- November 6, 2024
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“We always had fun. Here was an old man running around like a wild man.”
JAY GARDNER, on his dad playing paintball with students in the mentoring program
“To say any part of me came from him is the greatest compliment,” Jay Gardner said recently about his father, James E. Gardner, who died May 5 at the age of 78. “Just a comparison to him is a great compliment.”
A funeral was held May 11 for the senior Gardner, who, as a civil engineer and leader of ITT Community Development Corporation beginning in 1978, led the planning and design effort that resulted in the city of Palm Coast.
His team designed the community, building roads, utilities and other infrastructure and selling real estate. At one time there were 600 ITT employees in the area, from construction crews to real estate agencies. By the time James Gardner retired in 2000, there were only a few employees left, the work of ITT being completed. Many of the ITT employees started their own businesses as the company wound down.
The efforts were an obvious success, as the county was the fastest growing in the county in the nation for several years.
A PINE-COVERED SWAMP
When Palm Coast was started by ITT in 1970, it was known as 22,000 acres of “pine-covered swamp,” according to palmcoastgov.com.
Bill Bexley, a longtime friend of James Gardner and local businessman, said things really started to happen after Gardner took charge in 1978.
“He had a great staff,” he said. “He made the right decisions and always knew what to do.”
Jay Gardner said his father wanted the “right type of community,” and would arrange for a church, for example, to have a space when the same lot could have sold for more to a commercial enterprise.
James Gardner worked with Daytona State College and was instrumental in ITT donating 100 acres to the college. In 2012, he was honored with a dinner by the Daytona State College Foundation, and in 2016 the college dedicated the student services building on their Palm Coast campus in his name.
He was involved with many community organizations, and his favorite was a youth mentoring program that he help start.
“We would take the kids white-water rafting,” said Jay Gardner, who also worked in the program. “He would fly kids in his airplane. We went to Washington D.C.”
He said his dad mostly enjoyed playing paintball with the students.
“We always had fun. Here was an old man running around like a wild man,” he said with a laugh.
A GOOD OL’ BOY
Bexley hunted and fished with Gardner and spent a “lot of time in a tent” with him.
“He was just a great guy,” Bexley said. “I’m proud to say he was my friend.”
Jay Gardner echoed those sentiments, saying he was a “good old boy” who was friendly with everyone.
James Gardner was also known for being straightforward with people.
“He said all a man has is his word,” Jay Gardner said. “He said you have to have integrity.”
Jay Gardner said that his dad helped to build a special place, Palm Coast, and that’s why it has attracted so many people and thrived.
James E. Gardner graduated from Mississippi State in 1965 with a degree in civil engineering and graduated from U.S. Air Force flight school in 1966. He worked as a civil engineer and later as vice president of operations at Lehigh Acres Development. In 1978, he was hired as vice president, operations, by ITT and was promoted to president in 1985.
Gardner had three sons and six grandchildren. He is also survived by his wife, Jan, and a sister.
