Dan Blalock Jr. helped change the face of Manatee County

Bradenton real estate developer Dan Blalock Jr., who helped change the face of Manatee County throughout the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s not only with his viable developments that are still going strong but also with civic pride backed by generous donations, has died.

Mr. Blalock, 85, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease about a decade ago, died early Saturday at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, the Gainesville assisted living facility where he has lived for the past seven years with his second wife, Paddy, said his son, Bill Blalock of Bradenton.

In an editorial in 1992, the Bradenton Herald wrote: “Without Dan Blalock Jr. a lot of good things would never have happened in Manatee County. He is one of those movers and shakers who is always at work, often behind the scenes, making sure such projects as the expansion of the South Florida Museum and Bishop Planetarium succeed.”

“It is not hyperbole to say that without him, Snooty, the museum’s mascot manatee, would not be moving soon to a new aquarium,” the editorial added.

The editorial was sparked at the time by Mr. Blalock being named winner of the 1992 Manatee County Distinguished Citizen Award.

Born in Manatee County and a graduate of Princeton University’s Class of 1953, Mr. Blalock returned to his deep family roots and family business in Manatee County after serving in the U.S. Army and soon assembled a small group of trusted partners for his future real estate development ventures, including Dewey Dye, Marshall DeSear and John Ogilby, said Bill Blalock, 51, who is a fourth generation owner of the family’s original company, now called Wyman, Green & Blalock Real Estate Inc.

Mr. Blalock’s father, Dan Blalock Sr., was also part of Wyman, Green & Blalock, which was originally started by Mr. Blalock’s great-great-grandfather 100 years ago.

Among the developments Mr. Blalock helped to spearhead were Tanglewood Medical, across from Blake Medical Center, College Plaza, Cortez Commons, Beachway Plaza and all of its contiguous properties, one being Pinnacle Medical Group, Bill Blalock said.

Other creations by Mr. Blalock include Manasota Industrial Park and 301 Park of Commerce, Bill Blalock said.

But friends and family also noted that Mr. Blalock enjoyed building luxurious residential homes along the Manatee River in Bradenton only to sell them and repeat the process.

“He was very much a businessman,” Bob Blalock, 79, Mr. Blalock’s brother, said Sunday. “But he also had a good sense of humor, was outgoing and, in some respects, larger than life. He was very interested in his family, loved to hunt and fish.”

Mr. Blalock and his first wife, Martha, had two children, Bill and Susan, who both live in Bradenton. Martha Blalock died in 1989. Mr. Blalock also leaves two step-children, Sam Estes from Georgia and Laura Lee Estes from Texas.

Marlene Blalock, Bob Blalock’s wife and Mr. Blalock’s sister-in-law, admired Mr. Blalock’s sense of humor and skill at collecting antiques.

“He had a great eye for really fine American antiques,” Marlene Blalock said. “He knew collectors from around the country and they knew him. Those were his passions, hunting and collecting antiques.”

Mr. Blalock once showed up at a family function wearing a wig and acted as if nothing were unusual.

“He would tease me a lot,” Marlene Blalock said. “We got along famously.”

Mr. Blalock not only supported non profits like South Florida Museum, the Manatee County Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Southeastern Guide Dogs, Just for Girls, Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School and others financially, but he helped them develop top-notch policies and procedures and helped them acquire top notch board members, his son said.

“He was very interested in finding quality board members who would help move the organizations by lending their talents and credibility,” Bill Blalock said. “He urged them to keep the best ones they could find for as long as they could.”

A long ago tradition

In the early 1940s when Dan Blalock was growing up, his father, Dan Blalock Sr., taught him that hunting and all the trappings that come with it was a beloved and respected tradition and one that called for young and grown men to go on weekend organized hunts away from everything.

Steve Dye, the son of one of Mr. Blalock’s partners, Dewey Dye, was thrilled the day he was invited to “the hunt.” It left an impression on him that he has never forgotten.

Dye’s invitation really happened because Mr. Blalock’s parents had sent him to boarding school at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Mr. Blalock, following family tradition, sent his son, Bill, there too.

“When Bill came home after being in Tennessee, Mr. Blalock asked me to show him around Bradenton and introduce him to people,” Steve Dye said. “It was something that was just done back then. I don’t think Bill needed it, but his father asked me and I did.”

It turns out that Bill Blalock and Steve Dye became best of friends, and Steve Dye found himself invited to the hunts.

“Mr. Blalock became like a second father to me,” Steve Dye said Sunday.

Mr. Blalock owned a timber tract in South Carolina’s “low country” where deer and wild turkey abounded. Although there was a staff on hand to manage the property, basically the hunters handled everything, including making a huge pre-dawn breakfast, hunting morning and afternoon, making a huge post-hunt dinner usually with the freshly killed game followed by wine, cigars and stories through the night, then up again before dawn the next morning.

“The formal sit down dinner was always fantastic,” Dye said. “Low country shrimp boil, ribeyes, smoked game, just fantastic. You would come home fatter than when you left. Lots of cocktails and stories and wine and you would stay up as late as you possibly could knowing you would be hunting again the next morning.”

“Bill Blalock was our cook,” Dye added. “He had grown up under his father’s teaching. He was one of the greatest cooks I have ever seen.”

“There was a protocol for everything that was done,” Dye said. “Everything was done the right way for safety.”

Each hunter had his own spot and was told not to move from that spot.

“We followed maps,” Dye said. “You walked to your spot in the darkness and hoped that was your spot.”

To kill a wild turkey is very difficult, Dye said. You need to learn to call them. You must be insanely still when they approach.

“He taught me an awful lot about hunting turkeys,” Dye said of Mr. Blalock. “I thought I would never kill one. He was good at sharing his secrets. They are extremely wary. They have amazing eyesight. You can’t move a muscle. Once you master that you have a chance. All I can say is, through his life, Dan Blalock killed a lot of turkeys.”

Mr. Blalock’s funeral service is 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church, 1402 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Dan Blalock Jr. helped change the face of Manatee County."