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He was all about wheeling, dealing

The businessman was a major player in bringing revenue to Pinellas County.

By JARED LEONE
Published April 29, 2007

LARGO - Businessman J.O. Stone, who reshaped much of mid-Pinellas with hotels, a golf course, a shopping mall and car dealerships, died Friday (April 27, 2007). He was 95.

Mr. Stone was born in Galt, Mo., and his mother decided to name him simply with the initials J.O. because she said it would look more distinguished on letterhead, said his wife of 35 years, Ruth Stone.

"She said her first son would be a successful businessman and how right she was, " Mrs. Stone said.

Mr. Stone who owned more than $23-million worth of prime Pinellas property at one time, started out in the automobile business washing cars at his father's small lot in Trenton, Mo.

He graduated with a business degree from the University of Missouri and took a job as a representative for Pontiac traveling the country.

Mr. Stone established his first Buick dealership in Cleveland but liked the warm Florida weather and the relaxed atmosphere Pinellas County offered in the 1950s, Mrs. Stone said. He found a small Clearwater Buick dealer for sale and bought it, later moving the business to Cleveland Street.

"Florida was the place he wanted to make his home. He loved it here, " Mrs. Stone said.

Mr. Stone laid the cornerstone of his business empire on Ulmerton Road with the development of the Airco Golf Course in 1961. He leased the land from Pinellas County, which now runs the course, and created one of the area's only public regulation par-72 courses. Mr. Stone, an avid golfer who got to play a round with Jack Nicklaus during a Bob Hope Classic, also helped bring the first PGA events to Pinellas.

Mr. Stone, who enjoyed traveling, helped develop hotels near the golf course. Among his other real estate interests, he controlled three corners of the intersection of East Bay and U.S. 19. (The site of Tri-City Plaza was the one he did not own.) He built the Bay Area Outlet Mall on the southeast corner in the early 1980s.

Regardless of real estate transactions and developing Pinellas, Mrs. Stone said her husband was the consummate car man.

"Buick's the buy and Stoney's the guy, " she said.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Stone's survivors include a daughter, Sally Forester, Philadelphia, a sister Alida Bell Desper, Crystal River and two grandchildren, Max Forester and Jody Forester.

He was a member of Anona United Methodist Church, the Belleair Country Club, the Scottish Rite of Freemasons, the Privateers, Golden Triangle and Gold Shield of Tampa. Moss-Feaster Funeral Home, Serenity Gardens Chapel, Largo. A service is scheduled at Anona United Methodist Church at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

[Last modified April 28, 2007, 20:17:13]