In 1930, a 22-year-old quit his job at Piggly Wiggly and opened his own store next door in Lakeland. George Jenkins built Publix into the largest employee-owned company in America.
From a shy teenager singing at family parties to a global superstar who survived a devastating accident and came back stronger, Gloria Estefan put Miami on the musical map and never left.
He never saw a paved road until college. By the time he died, Claude Pepper had served in Congress for over 50 years and changed the lives of millions of older Americans from his home base in Florida.
A struggling New York writer bought a 72-acre orange grove in the Florida backwoods in 1928. The land, the people, and the stories she found there made her one of America’s most beloved authors.
MaVynee Betsch inherited a fortune and gave it all away to save American Beach on Amelia Island. Known as ‘The Beach Lady,’ she spent decades protecting the land her great-grandfather built for Black families during segregation.
Marjorie Harris Carr spent nearly three decades fighting the Cross Florida Barge Canal and won. The 110-mile greenway that replaced it now bears her name.
Chris Evert won 18 Grand Slams and spent 260 weeks as the world’s top player, but she never left the South Florida community where her father taught her to play.
With 18 major championships and over $210 million raised for children’s healthcare, Jack Nicklaus has called North Palm Beach home since 1970. His greatest legacy isn’t on the course.
A daughter of formerly enslaved parents arrived in Daytona Beach in 1904 with $1.50 and five students. She built a university, advised FDR, and in 2022 became the first Black American honored in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
An Indiana chicken farmer spent 16 years searching the ocean floor off Key West for a Spanish galleon. He lost his son, fought the Supreme Court, and finally found $450 million in gold, silver, and emeralds.