Frank Gardner's Obituary
Gardner, Frank Coffin, 80, business owner, retired lawyer, fourth-generation farmer, passed away peacefully in the company of all his children, Saturday October 31, 2009 in Miami, Florida.
After graduation from Yale University in 1951, Mr. Gardner joined the U.S. Marine Corps serving as a Captain in the Korean Conflict. After the war, he attended Harvard Law School graduating in 1956. Foregoing a career with a large corporate firm, Mr. Gardner chose to return to Miami where he became corporate counsel for a Miami-based airline and “hung out his own shingle”. Mr. Gardner maintained a private law practiced in Miami for many years.
At the same time, Mr. Gardner began a number of successful business ventures. Mr. Gardner served on the Board of Directors of: Continental Citrus Corporation, Continental Mortgage Company, Fairchild Tropical Gardens, The First National Bank of Palm Beach, The Marine Corps University Foundation, Middlesex School, Plymouth Congregational Church and Ransom Everglades School.
Mr. Gardner, a man of courtly demeanor, was an avid reader, accomplished tennis player and expert fisherman. He loved his home on Nantucket Island and spent a great deal of this leisure time there with family and friends.
Mr. Gardner is survived by his children Beau Gardner, Courtney Berry, Peter Gardner and his spouse Gina, and his four grandchildren, Gardner Berry, Jared, Christian, and Patrick Gardner.
The memorial service is planned for Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 1:00pm at Plymouth Congregational Church in Coconut Grove, Florida. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to The Kampong National Tropical Botanical Garden, 4013 Douglas Road, Coconut Grove, FL 33133.
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