TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Realtor Remembered For His Integrity

Friends and business associates remember David Sturgill as an ethical businessman and a man of his word.

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: January 29, 2009

SPRING HILL - The west end of Hernando County was all dirt roads, thick brush and palm trees when David Sturgill applied for his first real estate job more than 30 years ago.

Before long, he and his brokerage firm had at least 50 percent of the listings in Spring Hill.

He helped transform the vast swampland into a burgeoning "semi-city" that now includes most of the county's population.

Sturgill, 61, was taken off life support Wednesday morning following a stroke he suffered two days earlier while flying his ultralight aircraft.

His friends and business associates remember him as an ethical businessman who always remained true to his word.

"We hit it off right off the bat," said his friend and former boss Harry Timmons Sr., a broker in Brooksville. "He had a lot of good ideas and I knew he'd be a great asset."

Timmons was one of the first people in Hernando County who met Sturgill, he said. The former Pinellas County engineer was looking for a job that wouldn't require him to sit inside an office all day.

"He was a very good manager," Timmons said. "He could handle people and numbers. He was a soft-spoken guy with a lot of confidence. He was a gentleman and he had high morals and ethics."

In 1979 - roughly two years after he first interviewed with Timmons - he bought the real estate business and renamed it Century 21 David Sturgill. Several years later, he merged with another company in Spring Hill and it became Century 21 Alliance Realty, said Marilyn Pearson-Adams.

She was his close friend and business partner and eventually purchased the company from him in September 2007.

"He left a tremendous legacy," Pearson-Adams said. "He was honest, ethical and forward-thinking. His word was his bond."

Sturgill was flying his plane shortly before 2:30 p.m. when he was stricken with the early symptoms of a stroke. He landed it and drove it beyond the landing strip toward the end of a nearby taxi runway, said Assistant Chief Frank DeFrancesco of Hernando County Fire Rescue.

He drove the plane to the fence adjacent to the fire station. Paramedics arrived minutes later and transported him to Spring Hill Regional Hospital, DeFrancesco said.

"He loved his motorcycle, his plane, his mom," said Pearson-Adams. "He was very proud of that plane. He built it from scratch."

An "ultralight" applies to any single or two-seat plane. They can be either powered or unpowered.

Sturgill, who was past president of the Hernando County Realtors Association, also was known to be supportive of other Realtors in the area and offered assistance even after his retirement.

"He was a mentor to so many people," said local Realtor Gary Schraut. "He always took the time to talk to me, encourage me and congratulate me."

A memorial gathering is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday at Brewer and Sons Funeral Home in Seven Hills. It will be followed by a 7 p.m. tribute, Pearson-Adams said.

Services will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at Northcliffe Baptist Church and will be followed by a reception in the fellowship hall.

Among Sturgill's survivors is his mother, Wilma. He was preceded in death by his wife, Theresa.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT