Born in Miami the author came back from military service as a US Navy pilot and earned a Juris Doctor in Law from the U. of Florida. He practiced law in downtown Miami then moved to Palm Beach County where he formed a residential development company with his two brothers. That company, Brand Brothers, became the largest in Palm Beach County completing more than a thousand houses up until, through the Florida legislature he named and formed the City of Atlantis at the same time that his friend, Steve Calder, was in Tallahassee forming Calder Race Track. Retiring very early, he moved his young family to the Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica where they enjoyed the friendships and social life of the small British West Indies country and he built and operated Island House, the island's ?rst eco-tourism hotel. He also built from scratch the largest anthurium farm in the western hemisphere, and they owned the island's only freezer and ice company. He returned with his family to the practice of law in Palm Beach County, part of that as an Assistant State Attorney.