Gary M. Ketchum

Gary M. Ketchum

Gary Massey Ketchum died peacefully in his sleep on Friday morning, December 5, 2014 in Tallahassee. He was 72 years of age.

Gary was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, B.W.I., on December 12, 1941 where his father was stationed in the Army Medical Corps. Gary and his mother arrived in New York on a troop ship six weeks later. The Ketchum family moved to Tallahassee in 1949, and Gary graduated Leon High School in 1959 and Emory University in 1963. He joined the Navy and served on the USS Wright as Air Traffic Control Officer. In 1968, Gary entered law school at the University of Florida where he was Executive Editor of the Florida Law Review. After earning his juris doctorate in 1969 from Florida, Gary joined the law firm of Holland & Knight in Tampa, and later Fowler White, specializing in admiralty law. He returned to Tallahassee in 1978 and was a partner at McCord Bubsey & Ketchum practicing primarily land use law, and beginning in 1995 was associated and "of counsel" with the law firm of Stephen S. Dobson III in the area of criminal defense. After 41 years, Gary retired from the practice of law in 2010.

Gary's interests were diverse. Fine art, food, wine, music, reading, gardening, traveling and basset hounds to name a few. At Emory, he played guitar and sang in the fabulous, original "Oxfords" rock n' roll band, playing all over the southeast at any college that would have them. In his words, their performances are "google-proof."

In 1981, he became interested in grape growing having enjoyed the end product for so many years, eventually joining with CPA C. Gary Cox to form Lafayette Vineyards and Winery, Ltd. in 1983.

He was the proud owner and restorer, along with Jeffries H. Duvall, of the Wakulla Queen, a smoked-stacked, former ship-to-shore boat that plied the Wakulla River on many a lazy Sunday, and anchored on the flats off the St. Marks Lighthouse for scalloping with Matt and Debbie Chester.

While Tallahassee was his home, Gary delighted in traveling with his family, and friends Jim and Mary Ann Free, enjoying the food and wines in France, the beer in Ireland and Germany, the pasta in Italy, the historical monuments and national parks throughout the States with his son Peter Ketchum, and gardens from Butchart to Calloway. As a young man, he also hiked a portion of the Appalachian Trail.

Gary was truly a Renaissance man, whose great humor, sharp intelligence and, above all, tremendous love for all of his family and friends will be remembered by all who knew him.

Gary was predeceased by his parents, Clarence M. Ketchum, M.D. and Eleanor M. Ketchum, and his son Toby Ketchum. He is survived by his wife Wendy W. Ketchum of Tallahassee, his son Peter V. Ketchum and daughter-in-law Elena Paras Ketchum of Tampa, son John Ketchum of Hudson, sister Kay Ketchum McNinch of Richmond, TX and his three nephews and their families.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations may be made to any of the following: The Angelus Inc., Hudson, FL, the Alzheimer's Project and Big Bend Hospice, Tallahassee and Sarasota in Defense of Animals, Sarasota.

A Gathering of Family and Friends will be held Thursday, December 18, 2014 at 6PM at Culley's MeadowWood on Riggins Road. There will be a private family inurnment at Roselawn Cemetery.