Remembering Tom Kolar’s life, work selling SW FL life-style

Tom Kolar was within the enterprise of promoting goals.

In the early days of Cape Coral, when the canals had been freshly reduce and the promise of a “Waterfront Wonderland” was nonetheless extra pitch than proof, Kolar was a part of the group that satisfied Northerners to maneuver south. Later in his life, he constructed a Fort Myers Beach motel that allow individuals get pleasure from a sojourn in paradise.

Thomas James Kolar died in Fort Myers on March 13. He was 96.

Working in promotions for Gulf American Land Corp., Kolar helped greet vacationers alongside the route south, handing out orange juice and brochures and providing in a single day stays – a roadside invitation to think about a special life.

It labored. The metropolis grew to grow to be Southwest Florida’s most populous, with an estimated 233,025 residents as of 2024, according to the U.S. Census. 

It labored on Kolar, too. He and his spouse, Ellie, had been dwelling in Illinois, working a customized cupboard enterprise, once they encountered a Cape Coral exhibit at a house present throughout a very bitter Chicago winter, their daughter, Sandy Stilwell Youngquist, recollects.

“They went back home, sold their business, sold their home, and they bought a 40-foot cabin cruiser,” she stated.

The couple didn’t drive south. They boated.

From the Fox River to the Mississippi then down the Gulf, they made their method to a spot that was nonetheless taking form. When they arrived on the Cape Coral Yacht Club, they tied up for the night time.

The subsequent morning, a person was knocking on the boat with espresso.

It was developer Kenny Schwartz, the corporate’s first rent. 

“He gave him a job,” Stilwell Youngquist stated.

Kolar began as a safety guard, was later deputized by Lee County Sheriff Snag Thompson, then moved into promotions – a place that suited him higher than gross sales, his daughter stated. He ultimately grew to become one of many firm’s vice presidents, the place he helped develop the VIT program: Very Important Traveler, providing free OJ and maps to motorists alongside U.S. 41, then the principle north-south route earlier than I-75 was constructed, proper close to The Shell Factory in North Fort Myers. 

“He was a very jovial person,” his daughter stated. “He didn’t really want to get into sales.”

Instead, he grew to become a part of the group that constructed Cape Coral – not simply bodily, however culturally – in its earliest years.

Those years had been scrappy. When Hurricane Donna struck in 1960, the household and a few associates hunkered down collectively in a motel because the storm tore by way of.

Kolar helped his household escape the worst of it, tying bedsheets collectively to get them safely downstairs when the roof blew off and wind made the stairwell unusable. Later, he climbed again as much as rescue 4-year-old Sandy’s poodle, Fifi.

“At one level I regarded as much as all of our associates, all huddled in a room, and I stated, ‘Boy, this is a windy day. ‘And everybody’s still joking about that, but that goes to show … my dad had everything under control.”

As Gulf American expanded, sending him traveling to other development sites, Kolar and his wife began saving for something of their own.

In 1970, they built it.

The Eventide Motel on Fort Myers Beach became the family’s subsequent chapter — an all-hands-on-deck enterprise that outlined not simply Kolar’s life, however his kids’s.

They offered their Cape Coral dwelling and moved into the motel itself, dwelling in two rooms linked by a spiral staircase Kolar put in himself after jackhammering by way of concrete,  together with his teenage daughter serving to wheelbarrow out particles.

“I was his unpaid maintenance man,” she stated.

It was a household enterprise within the truest sense. Everyone labored — cleansing rooms, fixing bogs, working operations when the mother and father had been away.

“They didn’t stop,” she remembered.

That work ethic would carry ahead: Sandy would go on to grow to be a widely known entrepreneur and restaurateur in Southwest Florida. Her siblings carved their very own paths as nicely — one took over and expanded the household’s hospitality footprint, one other grew to become a wedding and household counselor.

“He was very proud of all three children,” Stilwell Youngquist stated.

Kolar himself was, at his core, a individuals individual — a lover of dialog, group and connection.

“He was energized by being around other people,” his daughter stated.

Later in life, he and his spouse traveled extensively – lengthy cruises, RV journeys throughout the United States and Canada.

His perspective held, even in loss.

When Hurricane Ian destroyed their Fort Myers Beach dwelling, Kolar and his spouse escaped safely, abandoning many years of possessions and images. The couple took it in stride, his daughter recollects. Their perspective: “We have our lives … in some unspecified time in the future we knew we had been going to need to downsize, and we had been going to have to determine what to do with all of our stuff. Now we do not have to fret about it.”

It was in line with how he lived – centered on what mattered. His guiding philosophy was easy, his daughter stated.

“He always would say what goes around comes around.”

And through it all, family remained central.

“He was happiest when he was with family.”

Tom Kolar is survived by his beloved wife of nearly 74 years, Eleanor “Ellie” Kolar; his three children, Beverly Chesnut (Steve), Sandy Stilwell Youngquist (Tim), and Tom Kolar (Melinda); eight grandchildren: Krista Hoffman, Steve Chesnut, Jonathan Chesnut, Corban Chesnut, Chauncey Brown, Erik Brown, Tommy Kolar, and Sterling Kolar; and 15 great-grandchildren: Eden Hoffman, Ellie Hoffman, Steven Chesnut, Karis Chesnut, Ava Chesnut, Emily Chesnut, Paul Chesnut, Luke Chesnut, Tristen Brown, Ethan Brown, Grace Brown, Laila Brown, Quinn Kolar, Blake Kolar, and Tommy Kolar.

He was predeceased by his parents, George and Betty Kolar; his brother, Frank Kolar; his in in-laws, Clarence and Esther Roessler, their best friends and traveling partners over all the years of their lives, his cherished granddaughter, Paris Kolar.

Honoring Tom Kolar

A viewing will be held on Tuesday, March 31 from 12:45–1 p.m., followed immediately by a memorial service at 1 p.m. at McGregor Baptist Church, 3750 Colonial Boulevard, Fort Myers, FL 33966 (main sanctuary).

A funeral procession will follow to Fort Myers Memorial Gardens, 1589 Colonial Blvd., Fort Myers, for those wishing to attend the United States military honors and entombment.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Lee Health Foundation, which provided loving care to the entire family for 67 years—including a six-month stay for the premature birth of their granddaughter Paris, who lived joyfully until age 35.

Address: Lee Health Foundation, 9800 S. Health Park Drive, Suite 405, Fort Myers, FL 33908

Amy Bennett Williams is a senior reporter. Reach her at at awilliams@news-press.com.

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