Harold Gary Morse (December 19, 1936 – October 29, 2014) was an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

and the developer of the active adult

retirement community A retirement community is a residential community or housing complex designed for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves; however, assistance from home care agencies is allowed in some communities, and activities and socializ ...

The Villages, Florida The Villages is a census-designated place (CDP) in central Florida. It is in Sumter and Marion counties, Florida, United States. It shares its name with a broader master-planned age-restricted community that spreads into portions of Lake Count ...

Personal life and education

Morse was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the son of Mary Louise and

Harold Schwartz Harold Schwartz (March 13, 1910 – December 22, 2003) was an American businessman and real estate developer who along with his son, H. Gary Morse, founded the active adult retirement community The Villages, Florida. Early life Harold Schwartz ...

, who later moved to Arizona. His father Harold was Jewish. After the couple divorced, Mary Louise married Clifford Morse (Morse would later take his stepfather's surname) and lived in

Central Lake, Michigan Central Lake is a village in Antrim County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 952 at the 2010 census. The village is located within Central Lake Township. Central Lake is situated on a lake which is in the center of a chain of la ...

. H. Gary Morse was first married to Sharon Morse, who died in 1999. Morse and his second wife, Renee, lived together in a house in

The Villages ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

worth more than $1 million. Morse had three children — Mark Morse, Jennifer Parr and Tracy Morse— each of whom own and work for the Holding Company of the Villages Ltd. He is known for having had a private life, making little contact with other residents and not giving interviews to the media. Upon his death, his family issued the following statement regarding Morse's life: "Dad never sought the limelight. He was content to stay in the background and enjoy seeing Villagers revel in this amazing lifestyle of their adopted hometown. While he was a friend and adviser to captains of industry, presidents and heads of state, he never lost focus on this community and making it the greatest retirement development in the world." He was a close friend of former

United States Surgical Corporation Tyco International plc was a security systems company incorporated in the Republic of Ireland, with operational headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, United States (Tyco International (US) Inc.). Tyco International was composed of two major bu ...

CEO Leon C. Hirsch, and is the grandfather of actress

Megan Boone Megan Boone (born April 29, 1983) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as FBI agent and profiler Elizabeth Keen on the NBC drama series ''The Blacklist''. She had a recurring role in '' Law & Order: LA'' and an episodic appeara ...

. Morse died on October 29, 2014.

Career

Prior to being a land developer, Morse worked as an advertising executive in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1983, Morse moved to Florida to take over his father's business selling vacant lots to mobile home owners. Morse instead decided to build homes, restaurants, pools, and golf courses, and by 1986 Morse was selling more than 500 homes per year. In 2011, the Holding Company of the Villages Ltd. generated at least $550 million in revenue. Morse also was the proprietor of a bank, an insurance company, a local newspaper and other properties. Morse has been described as owning "just about everything" in the community. In 2008, Morse settled for a $40 million class-action lawsuit that alleged that he had misused monthly community amenity fees. The

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

investigated the special tax districts Morse used for The Villages on the basis that the bonds sold by the districts did not qualify for tax-exempt status. However, once the IRS learned that the bonds had been fully redeemed, the investigation was closed as moot.

Political involvement

Morse, his children, and The Villages have donated tens of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of

Florida Governor The governor of Florida is the head of government of the state of Florida and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Florida ...

Rick Scott Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers, born December 1, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019. Scott ...

, and served as major fundraisers for

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

and

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...

. In addition, Morse donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

. Morse also used his 147-foot yacht, the Cracker Bay, for political gatherings. Upon receiving news of his death, Scott and United States Senator

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida Hous ...

issued separate statements on Morse's vision and ultimate realization of The Villages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morse, H. Gary 1936 births 2014 deaths People from Sumter County, Florida Businesspeople from Florida Businesspeople from Chicago Florida Republicans American billionaires 20th-century American businesspeople American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent