In Memoriam: Gil Waters

Gil Waters' devotion to the causes he believed in helped build the John Ringling Causeway in Sarasota, spurred a crucial decade of growth and laid the foundation for a billion-dollar company, FCCI Insurance Group.

Waters played a variety of roles within the community: reporter, business leader, city commissioner, developer, activist, philanthropist. No matter what he was doing, one thing never changed — his unwavering passion, say people who knew him. “Everything he did was due to helping the community,” his wife, Elisabeth Waters says. “When he saw something somebody needed, that was his drive.”

Gil Waters died Jan 4. He was 90.