Elizabeth Huizenga Buntrock, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., died on July 1, 2014, at the age of 80. While sipping tea Monday and filling out a crossword puzzle, Ms. Buntrock had a heart attack at her Pantry desk. She was a Fort Lauderdale socialite, philanthropist, activist, and Huizenga family member, who left her mark on Broward County. Elizabeth Betty Joanne Huizenga Buntrock, more simply known as “B.J.”, founded Flowers and Found Objects on Las Olas Boulevard in 1983. Her more recent non-profit project, The Pantry of Broward, is in its sixth year of providing food to grandparents who are raising grandchildren. “She had the heart of a thousand women,” her daughter, Margot Weinstein, 54, of Greenwich, Conn., said in an email.

Ms. Buntrock didn’t take “no” for an answer and operated not as a boss, but more as fellow volunteer. She surrounded herself with books and good conversation, on topics ranging from crop circles to UFOs. “She never liked anybody to clap for her,” EJ Spector, The Pantry’s board chief, said. “She just did these things because she was the quiet donor behind the scenes.”

Ms. Buntrock had a personal touch. She would arrive at The Pantry at 5 a.m. to pen handwritten thank-you cards to each and every donor, Spector said. Born in Illinois, Ms. Buntrock moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1978. She was first cousins with H. Wayne Huizenga, former Miami Dolphins owner and billionaire businessman. Their fathers were brothers.

In the 24 years Gary Young worked for Ms. Buntrock at Flowers and Found Objects, they cultivated a close friendship, cemented by weekly visits over Saturday afternoon drinks — beer for Young, vodka cocktails for Ms. Buntrock, Young said. “B.J. was my friend, mentor,” Young said. “She was a person that I could say anything in the world to.”

Ms. Buntrock’s daughter, Charley Buntrock Zeches, 43, of San Francisco, said her mother was an “unorthodox parent”. Zeches recalled being uneasy and scared by the family’s move from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale when she was seven and her mother’s unusual way of soothing her. As they stood on the edge of the pool at their new home decades ago, Ms. Buntrock suggested they jump in, clothes and all. “We can do this”, Zeches recalls her mother saying. “Let’s just jump in.” And they did. “That’s kinda how she lived every day,” Zeches said.

Ms. Buntrock is survived by two sisters, Suzanne Kannis and Ginger Jurries; two brothers, J.C. and Peter Huizenga; ex-husband Dean Buntrock ’55; three daughters — Weinstein, Zeches, and Dana Buntrock, 55—and their husbands; six granddaughters; and friend, Ruth Kelly Hustad ’55 P ’78 ’81 ’81. The family will accept donations to The Pantry of Broward in her honor.