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Lunch with Ernest
His heart belongs to Sun City Center
By ERNEST HOOPER
Published July 2, 2004
Jerry Milton beams with pride about Sun City Center. It's what has prompted him to live there for 10-plus years and it's what drives him as president of the Sun City Center Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, a voluntary job he routinely devotes 40 hours to every week.
Over lunch at Bob Evans on State Road 674, we talked about his affection for the community, his love of the Orient and the need for a theater in Sun City Center.
Pull up a chair and join us.
ERNEST: You've lived here since January 1994. How has it changed in 10 years?
JERRY: Well, it has infinitely more people. I would say 2,000 to 2,300 more people. There's a lot of building going on.
What are some of the goals of the chamber?
Our mission is to provide an atmosphere of business and community service for the benefit of all the residents of the greater Sun City Center area. We're a combination of a chamber of commerce, a welcome center and a tourist operation. Last year we got about 6,000 people walking into the lobby asking for anything and everything: phone numbers, addresses, coupons, directions, assistance with buying a new home or a used home.
I often think of a chamber as attracting new business. Is that part of your mission?
We have one man who is in charge of that committee and we have brought businesses here. We're sitting in one of them. A couple of years ago, there was a survey taken of people in this area. What is it that they wanted most? One, was a good restaurant. Another, surprising enough, was a good dry cleaners, and one was shoe repair. We've got a couple places cleaning and we've got a good shoe repair on 674 and 301. They want a movie theater, but that's a little dicey.
What have you heard about that because I would imagine it's hard for some people to go all the way to Brandon for the movies?
That's just about what they do. We've not been able to get a movie theater down here. People here are in a couple of different categories. There are those who are just happy to drive this far, 301 and 674, to have a nice meal. There are others who go into Tampa to Bern's Steakhouse, drive 45 minutes and spend quite a bit of money just to be able to say we ate at Bern's. I am not one of those. We have ample restaurants, correction, places to eat. We've pretty much covered what people wanted in that survey.
Have you been to Bern's?
No. I'd have to take out a loan. How did you get involved with the chamber?
In 2002, when my terms were up at the Sun City Center Community Association - you could only serve two three-year terms as president - somebody approached me and said why don't you apply to be elected to the board of directors of the chamber. I did, and in the summer of 2002, the board elected me a director for life. You know, like Idi Amin, except I don't wear a uniform. It was a very nice honor. I'm having all kinds of fun.
What else are you involved in?
An operation south of 301 called Youth Environmental Services. I'm on their board of trustees and it's a fabulous place.
They work with wayward teens, right?
These are not felons. These are kids that are, how can you say it, just a little off the wall. My first trip there a couple of years ago, I met a fellow, I never will forget, he had a T-shirt with a big 9 on it and he spoke to me like a Harvard professor. Very literate, very composed, none of this tapping of the feet.
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I was born and raised in St. Louis, got married there, move to Milwaukee for five years and lived almost 20 years about as far north as you can go in northern New Jersey. I went to engineering school in St. Louis, became a partner in a management consulting firm and then in '77, I formed my own business as an import agent and spent an inordinate amount of time overseas. I still go back there to the Orient twice a year. I just got back a week ago.
Where did you go this time?
Where I always go: Hong Kong, China.
What is it you enjoy about that part of the world?
Three things: one, doing nice business and making a buck; two, visiting each trip with five old friends that I've known for 20 years or more; and three, the food.
You could have retired anywhere, what brought you to Sun City Center?
My wife's sister lived on Long Island with her husband. They moved down here in '73, and that was my wife's lone family, the only one left and they were kind of close. So we decided we would look around Florida. We looked on the east coast, we looked in the center and we looked here. We looked here and found Sun City Center had just about anything anybody would want.
Your wife died just one year after you moved here. What advice would you give people on how to deal with that kind of loss?
Keep busy, don't feel sorry for yourself, accept it. There's nothing you can do about it. Mainly, keep busy.
DESSERT: A postscript from Ernest
Milton said the chamber is as much about community service as it is about businesses. Its 4,000-square-foot banquet area can be used on a pro bono basis by various organizations and the chamber holds a trade fair in the spring and a business expo in the fall. In addition to his work with the chamber and Youth Environmental Services, Jerry also is on the board for SunTrust, the South Shore Roundtable and the Forum of Greater Sun City Center. That's a lot for a man who is, well, Jerry wouldn't tell me his age. When I asked "how old are you," he just said, "very."
- Ernest Hooper also writes a column for the Tampa & State section of the St. Petersburg Times. Lunch With Ernest is edited for brevity and clarity. To suggest lunch partners, call Ernest at 226-3406 or e-mail hooper@sptimes.com
[Last modified July 1, 2004, 11:35:40]
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