Alexander Salvatierra Tiamson

Orange City Vice Mayor Alexander Tiamson – who at 10 immigrated from the Philippines to the United States – visited many of the states and began traveling the world, most recently witnessing the Northern Lights in Iceland.

His journeys ended last week on December 29, 2024 when he died at age 60, the city announced Wednesday.

Tiamson, 60, served on the City Council since 2020 and had been reelected to a second term in 2024 when no one challenged him.

He died as a result of "an unexpected medical episode,' Dawn Tiamson, his wife, said in an interview Wednesday.

A native of Manilla, Tiamson moved with his parents, two brothers and a sister to San Francisco. Their lives had been comfortable in the Philippines, where they had a driver and a maid.

"He remembered fondly that time," Dawn Tiamson said. "He would always say, 'Mom and Pop, we had it so good, why did we come here? Sometimes it's hard here in the United States.' And they would always say, 'We came to the United States for a better life.'"

About two years earlier, President Ferdinand Marcos had declared martial law and had become a dictator. Many Filipinos fell into poverty during his 20-year reign.

Tiamson related to his wife that he found high school "a cruel place," but he found his way into the Marine Corps at 19 and served four years, some of it based in Hawaii.

After the military, Tiamson moved to Florida, starting in Pensacola where he became a law enforcement officer. It was a career that lasted 29 years, taking him to Orlando, where he worked on patrol, in specialized units and task forces before being promoted in 2007 to detective.

He met his wife, a hotel manager, in 1999 when Orlando Police worked with her on a sting operation after guests had complained of items being stolen from their rooms.

They were introduced and that first glance at each other was different.

“There was something about our look ... I never will forget, and he said the same thing," Dawn Tiamson said. After that, Tiamson found reasons to visit her at the hotel and the relationship grew from there. They were together as a couple since 2001. Theirs was a blended family. He brought a son and two daughters, while she had a son and a daughter. "My kids call him Dad and Pops," she said.

Alex Tiamson was described by people who knew him as a people person who never met a stranger.

"If you'd get to talk to Alex, you'd walk away feeling more informed," his wife said. "It felt like you met a friend."

His political career was an extension of his interest in helping others in the community, Dawn Tiamson said. He participated in motorcycle rides to benefit St. Jude's Hospital and veterans. Recently, his wife said, he learned of a veteran who "was in a bad way, suicidal." Tiamson talked with him, even at odd hours, and helped him reunite with his family.

The couple traveled frequently, to many different states, Mexico and Iceland in October, with plans to go to Tiamson’s native Philippines later this month. “My husband was a curious guy,” Dawn Tiamson said. “If I told him about a trip or cruise I was looking at, always his response would be: ‘Book it!’” Tiamson had been studying the best places to visit and eat while visiting the Philippines, his wife said. He had also retained his ability to speak Tagalog, the language he learned as a child. “We had lots of plans to travel,” she said. “We just ran out of time.”

The family will host a celebration of life service at 12 pm on Monday, January 13, 2025 at First Baptist Church Orlando, 3000 S John Young Pkwy, Orlando, FL 32805. Family and friends are invited to visit and share memories from 11:00 am until service time.

Alex will be laid to rest with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery at 10:45 am on July 24, 2025.