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The Story of Barron Collier

Wikipedia Commons

We're going to explore the life of Barron GiftCollier with local author Marya Repko. Her new book, "The Story of Barron Collier" tells the story of Collier, who made a fortune with his advertising business before investing in Florida. He became the largest landowner in Florida, bought hotels, operated telephone systems, published newspapers, and undertook a road-building project across the swamps of the Everglades. At the same time, he was keeping up his New York interests as a civic leader, generous with his creativity and wealth. This is the third in a series of History for Younger Readers and is based on the Repko’s research for the adult version "Everglades Entrepreneur," all published by ECity Publishing.

Marya Repko grew up in Hadlyme, CT, but lived most of her adult life in Europe as a software engineer. After retirement, she moved to Everglades City, FL, where her first book "A Brief History of the Everglades City Area" has sold thousands of copies. Other brief histories of "Deaconess Harriet Bedell", "Marjory Stoneman Douglas", and "Sanibel" have been well-received, as have the children’s versions of the Everglades and Sanibel books. Her most recent book "Women in the Everglades" describes the hardships of pioneer life and the achievements of early environmentalists. She is President of the Everglades Society for Historic Preservation.

Rachel Iacovone is a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast Live for WGCU News. Rachel came to WGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.Rachel was first contacted by WGCU when she was managing editor of FGCU's student-run media group, Eagle News. She helped take Eagle News from a weekly newspaper to a daily online publication with TV and radio branches within two years, winning the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia in a cross-platform series she led for National Coming Out Day. She also won the Mark of Excellence Award for Feature Writing for her five-month coverage of an FGCU student's transition from male to female.As a WGCU reporter, she produced the first radio story in WGCU's Curious Gulf Coast project, which answered the question: Does SWFL Have More Cases of Pediatric Cancer?Rachel graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.