Originally Posted by JoMar

I am guessing Gary would be very happy about a high density rental apartment complex being built there since the single family homeowners to whom he sold their dream homes saw fit not to support the facility that he rented to owners of the restaurant. Harold and Gary were developers and profit motivated. Nobody wanted to take over the facility and since they weren't in the restaurant business they made a profit motivated decision. Same with Katie Bells. We have the right to choose where we eat or shop but if those choices don't sustain the business the owner has the right to go another direction.

I do not believe it wasn’t profitable. That’s a fairy tale only the very gullible would believe.

[PugMom]

Originally Posted by Chi-Town

Uh-oh. There goes his statue.

[J1ceasar]

The real driving force and success of the villages is simply statistics and the Aging of America, one of the luckiest Sons to have a father who gave him a business I won't mention the other one.

[Two Bills]

Originally Posted by pdearmond

Has anyone heard that The Villages is going public?

No.
But an awfull lot of public is going The Villages!

[LowOnCash]

The original developers would rather remain unseen now that they have endorsed the in-flux of thousands of new owners swarming the apartments they built destroying the original ideal of what the villages is about.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by LowOnCash

The original developers would rather remain unseen now that they have endorsed the in-flux of thousands of new owners swarming the apartments they built destroying the original ideal of what the villages is about.

[davem4616]

funny how folks that are living a pretty darn good life in TV still find little things to gripe about

if you're not happy living here and refuse to move...please, get a different hobby

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by Villagesgal

Did anyone else see that Gary Morse is listed as the founder of the Villages on page 49 of the new Villages magazine that came in today's paper? His father Harold Schwartz founded and started the development of the Villages until he handed it over to his son Gary Morse. Why is the Villages magazine not even mentioning the real developer and founder of the Villages?????
There is also a street named after Mr. Schwartz, not just one named after his son as they wrote. Why are they trying to rewrite the history of our area? Without Mr. Harold Schwartz the Villages would not exist. Just found this very odd. Give credit where credit is due and don't try to rewrite history.

Sorry, but Mr Schwartz did not simply hand over The Villages to his son. The fact is that that Schwartz and his partner, Al Tarrson, were trying, without much success to develop what we now know as The Villages. They created a small mobile home park called Orange Blossom Gardens. Because sales were so poor, Tarrson wanted out.

Schwartz called his son in as a partner. It was Gary Morse who suggested to Schwartz that developments such as this needed amenities. It was Morse that built the first golf courses, pools and rec centers.

In 1983 sales of mobile homes in OBG were a total of about 400. Once Morse was brought in sales began to increase exponentially.

Now I take nothing away from Harold Schwartz. He was the founder. He was the guy that had the vision. He was in charge and needed to approve everything.

But it was Gary Morse that turned a small mobile home park into The Villages. He needed his father's permission, but without his ideas The Villages would not exist today.

Gary Morse is responsible for much of the lifestyle that we have today.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by HelenLCSW

Schwartz was Jewish — it seems they want to separate themselves from that heritage

Harold Schwartz and his wife divorced during WW2. His wife remarried a named named Morse. She was afraid that if we lost the war that the Nazis would invade our country and kill all of the Jews so she legally changed the names of her children to their stepfather's name.

I don't believe that Harold's wife was Jewish but I can't find anything about that. Her name was Mary Louise Lee.

Gary Morse's actual name, by the way is Harold Gary Morse (nee Schwartz).

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by Pam Smothers

That really sucks. Harold Schwartz's statue is on Spanish Springs Town square. Will they take that down?

I doubt it. His grandchildren are very proud of what their grandfather started. The ashes of Harold Schwartz are in the box that the statue stands on.

It was his son, Harold Gary Morse that had that statue erected. I doubt that his children would take it down.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

I am guessing Gary would not be very happy about a high density rental apartment complex being built at
the site of one of the Championship Country Clubs he created for the single family homeowners he sold their dream homes to.

How would any of us have any idea what Gary Morse would have thought about any of the changes and/or additions that have gone on?

A lot of these plans have been in the works for several years. Morse may even have had input into them.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by swooner

You are 100% correct. When I first came here in 1992 the only name connected to TV was Harold Schwartz. He is probably turning over in his grave as he watches what's become of it.

While it's true that most people only knew the name of Harold Schwartz in connection with The Villages, Gary Morse had been highly involved since 1983.

Often in the case of big companies like this, there is a Mr Inside and a Mr Outside. Harold Schwartz was a personable guy that made himself very visible. I have spoken with residents on the Historic side that told stories of how he would invite people into his house for iced tea and cookies. He would personally greet people who came for lifestyle visits and give them his home phone number.

Gary Morse was different type person. He worked behind the scenes and keep to himself. He was a very private person who shunned attention and the media. He allowed his father to deal with all of that. But it was his vision and ideas that turned a little mobile home park into what we now know as The Villages.

The truth is that the two of them worked together to build The Villages.

It was in 1992, coincidently, that the name of the development was changed from Orange Blossom Gardens to The Villages. So you might have been one of the first residents of The Villages.

[diamond2005]

Originally Posted by charlieo1126@gmail.com

Without Gary , the whole place would be the historic side.

Without Harold Schwartz, there would have been no Gary Morse, and no The Villages.

[billethkid]

Originally Posted by LowOnCash

The original developers would rather remain unseen now that they have endorsed the in-flux of thousands of new owners swarming the apartments they built destroying the original ideal of what the villages is about.

I would suggest getting more acquainted with how many private homes and residents and property vs apartments and residents and property.

How will it affect the average villages resident?

For the most us....not at all.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by John41

I do not believe it wasn’t profitable. That’s a fairy tale only the very gullible would believe.

Your right, the smart Developer or owner would take a profitable business and tear it down, what was I thinking? Your business acumen has set me straight....thank you. Oh, and you became a billionaire doing what?