Gary Morse

Developer of one of the world's largest retirement communities. Morse took over a small mobile home park in central Florida from his father in 1983, when it had just 386 manufactured homes, a clubhouse and a few shuffleboard courts. Harold Gary Schwartz was born in Chicago on Dec. 19, 1936, to Mary Louise and Harold Schwartz. After his parents divorced and his mother remarried, he took the last name of his stepfather, Clifford Morse. Morse was raised in Central Lake, Michigan, where the family ran a restaurant and entertainment complex called Brownwood, according to a Jan. 8, 2012, account in the Villages Daily Sun. His father bought a few thousand acres of scrub land 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Ocala and, in 1959, began selling lots by mail. By 1983, when Morse took over the business, 400 lots had trailers on them. Rather than sell vacant lots, Morse decided to build homes, pools, restaurants and golf courses. Census data says The Villages is one of the nation's fastest-growing communities. He was also a prominent GOP donor who made his private jet available to the Republican Party of Florida. In 2012 The Villages gave a total of $350,000 to the state party and a political committee controlled by Florida Gov. Rick Scott. Morse’s first wife, Sharon, died in 1999. Morse is survived by his wife, Renee; son, Mark; two daughters, Tracy Mathews and Jennifer Parr; and stepson Justin Wilson, according to the Daily Sun. He also is survived by 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.