IN MEMORIAM | Truly Nolen 1928-2017

Truly David Nolen, with the unusual first name and even quirkier sense of humor, has two major life accomplishments that belie his joke-around, prankster persona.

For one, in 1951 at 23 years old he survived polio — well past the age most people got the disease. He was encased in an iron lung for a year. Doctors told him he would never walk again. He persevered, and later not only regained full health but was able to check off another success: launching and growing a pest control business, Truly Nolen, into a $114.7 million global operation with more than 320 locations in 63 countries.

Nolen died April 18 at his home in Naples. He was 89 years old.