Jack Eckerd, 86, who founded Eckerd Drug Stores and ran as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate and Florida governor in the 1970s, divides his time between Clearwater and North Carolina. Eckerd remains chairman of the board for Eckerd Youth Alternatives, the wilderness camping program for emotionally troubled children he founded more than 30 years ago.
Checkers Drive-In Restaurant founders Herb Brown and James Mattei have fared better than many Checkers stockholders. Brown, 76, lives in Clearwater Beach and spends much of his time working with Rotary International. He's also active in commercial real estate development with sons Jared and Greg and son-in-law Lee Arnold. Mattei resides in Charlotte, N.C., is a passionate yachtsman and, with a partner, bought Geoff Bodine's NASCAR Winston Cup team in 1998.
In the '80s, Roy Speer and Lowell "Bud" Paxson turned a low-budget radio show into the multimillion dollar Home Shopping Network (HSN) empire. With a spot at No. 223 on the 1999 Forbes 400 and a fortune estimated at $1.1 billion, Speer splits his time between Clearwater and the Bahamas. He left HSN in the mid-1990s under a cloud of charges of improper relationships with vendors, but reappeared last year in an unsuccessful bid to buy majority control of St. Petersburg's Precision Systems, an HSN spin-off. Paxson, who now lives in a multimillion-dollar Palm Beach mansion, has built up a television network and launched the family-oriented Pax TV. Paxson Communications is based in West Palm Beach.
"Chainsaw Al" Dunlap still lives in Boca Raton after leaving the struggling Sunbeam Corp., which ousted him in 1998 after Sunbeam failed to meet its financial targets and charges surfaced concerning accounting irregularities. Dunlap is in a battle with Sunbeam to get $5.5 million in severance.
Raymond Mason founded The Charter Co., but lost control of it when the company was forced to file for bankruptcy protection in 1986 after several key executives were killed in a helicopter crash in Ireland. Mason retained control of American National Bank, which was sold last year. He now spends summers in Ireland and winters at his home in Orange Park.
Mark C. Sanford, former owner of Guarantee Security Life Insurance Co., at the time Florida's biggest insurance failure, now owns and operates two fitness clubs in the Jacksonville area.
Paul Bilzerian, Tampa corporate raider who took over Singer Co. in 1988 and then sold off much of it, lost a U.S. Supreme Court bid in June to overturn his conviction on securities charges. He served 20 months in prison and is fighting a $62-million SEC judgment. Bilzerian's 1991 bankruptcy filing let him keep his multimillion-dollar Tampa home. He's now president and CEO of Cimetrix, a publicly traded Salt Lake City software design company.
Paul Kahn, who now develops upscale homes and small office buildings in Jacksonville, was formerly chairman and CEO of Ideon Group, the credit card services company formerly known as SafeCard Services. The company -- whose directors included Jeb Bush, now Florida governor, and Adam Herbert, now chancellor of Florida Board of Regents -- lost millions on failed business ventures and had to be sold.
Wilford C. Lyon Jr., grandson of one of the seven founders of Jacksonville's Independent Life Insurance, was chairman of the company when it was sold to American General Corp., based in Nashville, Tenn. He's now retired in Jacksonville.
Jake Belin, a protégé of Ed Ball and long-time CEO of St. Joe Paper, continues as a St. Joe Co. director and lives in Port St. Joe.
Real estate developer Chuck Cobb, 63, spent 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s at Arvida, where he shaped the development of Boca Raton and Weston in south Florida. Since selling Arvida to Disney in 1984, Cobb has been undersecretary in the U.S. Department of Commerce and ambassador to Iceland. Cobb and his wife, Sue, who served as Jeb Bush's first Lottery secretary, now run Cobb Partners, a Coral Gables investment firm.
Victor Posner, controversial Miami Beach financier, was forced by a federal judge in the early 1990s to sell his controlling interest in DWG, a holding company for Arby's and Diet Rite. Now permanently banned by the SEC from running any public company, he operates Security Management Corp. Posner was recently sued (for the third time) by his son Steven, who claims his father owes him $29 million.
For 20 years, Renee Mottram Doss worked as what Florida Trend once called "Victor Posner's Right-Hand Woman." Since 1990, she has been on her own, running Jensen Beach-based Renar Homes, a home developer on Florida's east coast. Doss, who is building a new home in pricey Sewall's Point, participates in tap dancing competitions worldwide.
Winter Park dealmaker and Jeb Bush confidant Phil Handy, 55, made his fortune in the late 1980s with the purchase of more than 500 Majik Mart convenience stores among other properties. He's now working with Chicago investor Sam Zell as a managing director of EGI Corporate Investments Inc., a division of Zell's Equity Group Investments.
Marshall Criser was University of Florida president from 1984 to 1989, and he now lives in Jacksonville, where he practices law.
Frank Borman, former chairman of Eastern Airlines and a member of the Apollo 8 crew that was first to orbit the moon, moved to Las Cruces, N.M., shortly after the sale of Eastern in 1986. He's now president of a Las Vegas company that owns and licenses laser technology and is involved in another company that rebuilds antique airplanes.
In the early 1990s, Bob Bell walked away with roughly $60 million after selling Sun Pharmaceuticals, maker of Banana Boat suntan products. After some traveling and investing, he stepped back into the suntan lotion business in 1997 by acquiring the trademark for Sea & Ski. Now 41, Bell lives in Miami.
Kevin Smith, 42, made an estimated $38 million when he sold his Miami medical devices company, Symbiosis Corp., in 1992. Since then, he's launched two new companies. Environmental Aeroscience develops and manufactures rocket motors. His newest venture, Syntheon, is a financial holding company that, so far, has generated two high-technology companies. Smith, wife Kim and daughter Katherine live in Miami.
The Bankers
Jack Uible, former chairman and CEO of Florida National Bank, pocketed $65 million when he sold the bank to First Union in 1990. He now sits on several corporate boards, including The St. Joe Co. Uible splits his time between homes in Jacksonville and Pebble Beach Golf Club in Northern California.
Charles Rice, formerly chairman and CEO of Barnett Banks, still works out of his old office in Jacksonville, now as vice chairman for corporate development for Bank of America.
Former Barnett Banks President Allen Lastinger spends much of his time in North Carolina and remains active raising money for his alma mater, the University of Florida.
Bronson Thayer, chairman of the $5-billion, 144-branch First Florida Bank before its acquisition by Barnett, is back in banking after seven years. This fall, he opened the first branch of Bay Cities Bank in Tampa. Thayer, 60, also is an investment manager with Orlando's Investment Counsel Co.
Charles Zwick, chairman of Southeast Banking Corp., retired shortly before federal regulators took control of the Miami bank and sold it to First Union. A consultant in Miami, Zwick serves on the board of the University of Miami.
The Politicians
Doyle E. Conner, 70, Florida's sometimes controversial Agriculture Commissioner from 1961 through 1990, underwent quadruple bypass surgery in November 1998. He spends most of his time at his Jefferson County farm, where he raises quarter horses and beef cattle.
Paula Hawkins, one of Florida's most prominent women in the 1970s and 1980s, was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican in 1980 and was defeated in 1986 by Democrat Bob Graham. Hawkins, now 72, suffered a stroke this year.
Frederick Schultz, speaker of the Florida House from 1968 to 1970 and vice chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1982, says: "I spend a quarter of my time on business, a quarter on education, a quarter on exercise and a quarter on reading." He gave $1 million for a leadership center for educators.
Steve Pajic won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1986, but lost the general election. He and his brother, Gary, run a successful law practice in Jacksonville. These days he coaches kids and is campaigning for his old classmate and basketball teammate at Princeton, Bill Bradley.
Panama City Democrat turned Republican and Florida political legend Dempsey Barron served 32 years in the Florida Legislature until his 1988 defeat by newcomer Vince Bruner. Barron, 80, spends time at his Florida and Wyoming ranches.
Vince Bruner, who Florida Trend said "gunned down" Dempsey Barron in 1988 and was touted as a future governor, served one four-year term in the Florida Senate. Now 42, he practices personal injury law in Fort Walton Beach and Panama City.
And Governors ...
Farris Bryant, Florida's governor from 1961 to 1965, is retired now and living in Jacksonville.
Reubin O'D. Askew is a professor at the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. He served as governor from 1971 to 1979.
Claude Kirk Jr., governor from 1967 to 1971, lives in West Palm Beach.
Bob Graham, governor from 1979 to 1987, represents Florida in the U.S.
Senate.
Bob Martinez lives in Tampa, where he is managing director of the government consulting unit at Carlton Fields law firm. He was governor from 1987 to 1991.
Kenneth H. "Buddy" MacKay unexpectedly became Florida governor for three weeks in 1998 after the death of Lawton Chiles. He now serves as U.S. special envoy for the Americas.
The Personalities
Financial guru Charles J. Givens became a multimillionaire in the early 1990s with his mega-best seller "Wealth Without Risk" and subsequent tomes. The high-profile Orlando resident died of cancer at age 57 in 1998.
Anita Bryant, the Florida citrus industry's most successful spokeswoman -- at least for a time -- entertained audiences in Branson, Mo., at the Anita Bryant Theater, a venue that she and her husband bought in 1995 and sold in 1998.
Artis Gilmore and teammate Pembroke Burrows were among the original "twin towers." The 7-footers led Jacksonville University's Cinderella basketball team to the NCAA finals in 1970, where it lost to UCLA. Gilmore now operates Gilmore-Wimberly & Associates, an independent insurance adjuster in Jacksonville. Burrows became a Florida highway patrolman.
Rogue's Gallery
David Paul, the flamboyant former chairman of Miami's CenTrust thrift, received an 11-year prison sentence following his conviction on 97 counts of banking and securities fraud. He began serving his sentence in January 1995 and remains incarcerated.
Victor Incendy ran a high-flying, publicly traded chain of women's clothing and cosmetics stores called Cascade International. The problem, discovered in 1991, was that many of the company's stores didn't exist and the company's financials were a mess. Cascade's stock plummeted and Incendy, who had issued $25 million in unrecorded stock, disappeared. Several other Cascade officers, including Incendy's former wife, went to prison. Incendy's whereabouts are still unknown.
One of Florida's most notorious businessmen, Miguel Recarey ran a Miami HMO called International Medical Centers in the 1980s. In 1987, he fled to South America after the federal government indicted him for bribery and wiretapping. He's now living in Spain and still wanted by the FBI.
"Dare To Be Great" motivator Glenn Turner spent five years in prison for running a Koscot products pyramid-scheme operation. Now semi-retired, 65 and based in Longwood, he pitches self-improvement and motivational books, audio and videotapes and other products on his website (www.glenn-turner.com).