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Bernard “Bernie” Waterman, owner of Waterman Broadcasting and a legend in Southwest Florida journalism, died in November at his Sanibel Island home.
Naples lost longtime local historian and Naples Daily News food columnist Doris Reynolds in November, at age 92. The beloved When Peacocks Were Roasted and Mullet Was Fried author began her Let’s Talk Food column in 1986.
Philanthropist Tom Cronin, notably hailed as savior of The Shell Factory in Fort Myers, died in February at age 78.
At 79, Dena Geraghty died in February just weeks before she was to be honored as a Grande Dame at the annual tea held by the nonprofit PACE Center for Girls of Lee County. Geraghty helped create the tea event and was a longtime board member of PACE.
Elizabeth “Betty” Gardner Sanders, also set to be honored as a Grande Dame, passed later the same month, died at age 78. She served the Fort Myers community in many capacities, including through the Community Council for the Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.
John “Jack” Donahue, the Naples and Pittsburgh philanthropist who founded a large U.S. financial firm, passed at age 92 last May. Donahue was well-known as a family man, big Republican donor, and owner of prized beachfront real estate in Naples and on Keewaydin Island.
A sad goodbye to the Bochettes: To LD, whose quiet leadership helped shape Fort Myers civic affairs, and to his wife, Jeanne, the studio owner who taught generations of young people how to plie and pirouette—and in the process, so much more.