Daniel Stromer turns 100 on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026.
Courtesy of the Stromer Family
Daniel Stromer’s life has been anything but ordinary, yet one of its most standout qualities is this: He’s lived longer than the very city in which he now resides. .
The Army veteran and decades-long firefighter was born in 1926 — nearly 40 years before Pembroke Pines was incorporated as a city — and turns 100 this year, a milestone reflected in a life rich with history.
Stromer came of age in the Great Depression, installed telephone lines amid German gunfire during his World War II service, and climbed the ranks of the New York Fire Department for nearly 30 years.
“It was tough days,” he told the Pembroke Pines News from his Century Village home, where he’s lived since the early 1990s. “Always, I was a hustler.”
A hard-knock life
Stromer, who celebrates his 100th birthday on Monday, Feb. 23, landed his first job as a Brooklyn shoe shiner at 5 years old — after his father died from appendicitis — becoming what he called “the man of the house” overnight.
Having to forego school for work, he’d set up outside busy clothing stores and hiring halls to shine dozens of shoes all day for a nickel each or a quart of milk as payment.
To make sure he and his family always had something to eat, he’d also work cafeteria houses while well below the employment age limit “because that’s where the food was.”
“Many times for dinner all I had was mashed potatoes or rice and milk,” said the centenarian. “I never played sports because as a kid, I was always working.”
He’d eventually re-enroll in school, but never walk across the graduation stage after being drafted by the Army for World War II service in 1944, three months shy of getting his diploma.
“I tell you, the Army was the best thing for me. I felt as if I was on vacation,” said Stromer, who recalls his younger years as “athletic” and “filled with a tremendous amount of energy.”
Stromer, who passed his basic training exams with flying colors, was known to sneak out of the training grounds and “go partying all night,” says his daughter, Michele Stromer.
Most of his service was spent as an artillery lineman in the south of France, where he’d jump off moving vehicles and scale telephone poles to maintain battlefield communications, often working while under enemy fire.
He spent his 19th birthday crossing the Rhine River from France to enter Germany, just one month ahead of the Western Allies’ advance into Nazi territory through the same route.
“I slept in the snow … because I was out all day and night laying telephone wire. I didn’t have a stationary place to go with heat,” Stromer said. “I had to carry my own food because I was always moving. … All I could remember is I was always, always cold.”
Daniel Stromer served as a firefighter in the New York Fire Department for over 26 years. Courtesy of the Stromer family Work ethic, awards
Stromer’s life was marked by public service, even decades after his military service.
The veteran joined the New York Fire Department in 1953, where he served for over 26 years and was eventually elected as the Uniformed Firefighters Association’s Brooklyn “trustee,” representing the borough during union and NYFD negotiations.
“We used to lose about six firemen a year on the job. Back in those days, it was quite dangerous. I never saw a (face) mask until five years in,” Stromer said. “I loved the fire department. Very interesting, you’re rescuing people all the time.”
While fighting fires full time, he also ran a luncheonette and worked as a waiter at high-end New York restaurants, where he’d meet the secret to his long life: His wife of 63 years.
“(Antoinette) was a waitress and I was a waiter. … We have different personalities, but we think alike. And we’re very, very close,” said Stromer, who considers his wife his “best friend.”
Together, the couple has raised six kids and stood by each other throughout some of Stromer’s biggest accomplishments.
In 2001, nearly 60 years after being drafted, his alma mater sent him an honorary high school diploma along with a 1944 letter he wrote to the school while stationed abroad, inquiring about how he could finish his studies.
In 2013, he was decorated as a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor for his WWII service and celebrated on the flight home from the ceremony with a water salute from Broward County Fire Rescue.
Daniel Stromer, second from right, celebrates his 100th birthday with the Pembroke Pines Fire Department. Courtesy of the Stromer Family On turning 100
This year, Stromer was gifted a trip down memory lane by the Pembroke Pines Fire Department, which let him sit in the cab of a firetruck as he did decades ago.
Dozens of close friends and family also dropped in for a surprise party ahead of his 100th birthday on Feb. 23.
His secret to living a long life? He says it’s all owed to the advice he’s followed: “Don’t drink and have a good wife.”
“I’ll never forget that night (I met Antoinette),” Stromer said. “We’re a very good marriage. I don’t think we’ve ever had an argument. We get along very, very well.”
Pembroke Pines News
Isabel Rivera covers the city of Pembroke Pines for the Pembroke Pines News, a sister publication of the Miami Herald. She graduated from Florida International University (go Panthers!), speaks Spanish and was born and raised in Miami-Dade. Her last meal on death row would include a cortadito.