Phil Ponder left Ocala as a young man, but he never really left it behind. The boy who grew up around Silver Springs and the old-town rhythms of Marion County carried that sense of place all the way to Nashville — then spent a remarkable second career giving another city its memory back, one brick, one window, one beloved old building at a time.
Remembering Phil Ponder
Well-known Nashville artist, former Metro Council member and civic leader Philip “Phil” Ponder died Sept. 30, 2026, at age 93…