Profile of Tony Kendzior
I was born and raised in wartime Great Britain. In 1948, my father took a job with the International Harvester Co. and we moved from England to France. We lived near St. Germain, about 40 miles from Paris along the Seine River in a village called Le Peq. I attended a french school, L‘Ecole du Lac which was distinguished by the fact that no one there spoke Engilsh. We lived there until 1950 when my father decided to bring us to the United States.
My father, a mechanical engineer with a degree from LSU, took a position with the export division of Caterpillar Tractor Co., located in Peoria, Illinois. In three months, exposed for the first time to cowboys and indians, and Saturday afternoon matinees, I forgot every word of French I ever learned. I did, however, learn to speak American, and to this day am told that traces of a mid-western accent can still be heard.
After three months in the United States, Caterpillar moved us to India. There I attended a mission school for two years in the mountains of southern India. It was an idyllic setting around a lake in the mountains and I have strong memories of the place. It was also where I learned to play golf, on a small nine hole course carved out in the mountains in 1895 and run by an elderly Scotsman named E.O.King. I can vividly recall being alone on the course one day, armed with three golf clubs, and finding fresh tiger tracks in a sand trap. I picked up my ball and hurried to the clubhouse!
Returning to the States in 1952, we stayed in Peoria for 18 months. My father came home one day and announced that we were moving to what was then the Belgian Congo in Africa. My mother said "No." My father subsequently resigned from Cat and we moved in 1954 to Jacksonville, Florida. Three years later, we moved again, this time to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
I graduated from Chattanooga City High School in 1959, and, surprise, my parents decided to move again, this time to Clearwater, Florida. I entered the University of Florida as a freshman and managed to graduate four years later with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administation, having majored in Marketing and Economics. Those four years in Gainesville were the longest I had ever lived in one place.
I chose to stay in Gainesville following graduation from the University of Florida in 1963. I had worked all four years at the Campus Bookstore and they hired me as the Assitant Director shortly after that. Ten years later I became the General Manager of the Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper at the University of Florida.
This was when the Alligator became an independent, off-campus publication and I was instrumental in it surviving as a viable business enterprise. During my tenure at the Alligator, it had the largest circulation of any truly independent university newspaper in the country. In 1975, I earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Florida, College of Education.
I have been in the financial services industry since 1976. I‘ve continued by career related education to stay on the cutting edge of industry developments and have earned the professional designations of Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC). Though I am no longer what is known as a Registered Representative of a Broker/Dealer, at one time I held Series 7, 24, and 63 securities licenses.
Today, I own my own financial services business, Florida Wealth Advisors, LLC, which is a Registered Investment Adviser. Technically, I am an Investment Advisor Representative, and, as such, I assume a fiduciary responsibility toward my clients. I am legally obligated to put your interests first, a responsibility I embrace. My efforts are focused on investment management services for my clients, estate planning and insurance strategies. My clients include faculty from the University, small business owners, professionals, retired persons and individuals in need of good, solid financial advice to help them create and preserve wealth.
I‘ve been active within the Gainesville community for many years. My involvements have ranged from being Chairman of the Alachua County Bicentennial Commission in the 1970‘s to a founding board member and Secretary of the Gainesville Community Foundation today. I have been Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Academy of Finance, a magnet program in the Alachua County School System, Chapter President of the Gainesville Estate Planning Council, and taught retirement planning at Santa Fe College. Currently I am president of The Alachua Press, a not-for-profit publishing house focused on the history of Alachua County and the surrounding area. There have been numerous other activities and board tenures over the years.
I am married to the former Candy Algee and we have two grown children, Eric and Erin. My interests include golf, reading, collecting stamps and computers. Not too long ago, I served four years, including a year as President, on the Board of Directors of the Gainesville Country Club, a private club with some 750 members.