The University of Florida has awarded the late, great Tom Petty an honorary Ph.D. The Associated Press reported, “The school’s board of trustees unanimously voted to award Thomas Earl Petty a posthumous doctoral degree in music during a Friday meeting (December 3rd). Born and raised in Gainesville, Petty once worked as a groundskeeper at UF as he tried to make it in the music industry, but he was never enrolled.” There’s been no word as to whether there will be  special ceremony for the Petty family to be awarded the posthumous honor.

Tom Petty died on October 2nd, 2017 of an accidental overdose at age 66. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner stated the cause of death to be “multisystem organ failure due to resuscitated cardiopulmonary arrest due to mixed drug toxicity.”