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Florida Trend Business Profile
Guy Harvey and the Art of the Deal
Guy Harvey's fish paintings have made his T-shirts and name synonymous with fishing and Florida's casual lifestyle. Can he push the brand nationally?
The Life of a Guy
Growing Up: Raised on a 1,200-acre farm in Jamaica, Harvey is the son of a cattle farmer and a nurse. His mother’s side of the family has lived in Jamaica since the 1600s. His family had a beach cottage, and that’s where he first fell in love with the ocean.
Early Art: As a child, Harvey liked drawing. At 8, he was sent to England for boarding school, where he sketched fish he remembered from Jamaica and grew particularly attached to Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” He still has a British accent.
Education: A degree in marine biology at Aberdeen University in Scotland; a Ph.D. in fisheries management from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica
Family: Wife, Gillian, 51, whom he met at a New Year’s Eve party in 1984 and married in 1989. Harvey says she doesn’t like to fish. She works as a consular officer for the Jamaican consulate in the Cayman Islands. The couple’s two children, Alex and Jessica, have worked in the gallery and store in Grand Cayman during holidays. Jessica has a zoology degree and works for the environmental protection department for the Cayman Islands. Alex is a business major — with a talent for drawing.
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