Frank DAME

DAME, Frank Frank L. Dame was born in Garden City, New York on June 10, 1947 and passed Jan. 1, 2024. Frank was the oldest son of Frank E. Dame and Mary S. Dame. He lived in and attended grammar school in Garden City until he was 12 years old when his parents moved from New York to Winter Park, FL. Frank attended Winter Park High School and graduated in 1965. After which he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Panama and Vietnam. After serving in Vietnam, he returned to Winter Park pursuing his bachelor's degree at UCF. While back in W.P. He dated and married Sue Sherwood, with whom he had two beautiful daughters: Lisa and Haley. Frank and Sue started their married life in Detroit, MI where Frank began his 50 years + business career working in the sporting goods industry. Missing his beloved Florida, moved back to Winter Park to work for International Harvester. Not long after, he left I.H. to acquire a real estate company servicing the Winter Park and Orlando areas. When the real estate market crashed, Frank joined GE and moved to Roswell, Georgia. From there, he joined GTE Leasing and moved back to Florida, where he eventually became president of the company. He lived in Palm Harbor and then Clearwater Beach and maintained offices in Tampa. As the global economy changed Frank moved from GTE Leasing to Progress Energy as a Chairman. He later decided to go out on his own and open a boat brokerage and yacht delivery service in Clearwater Beach. Frank became affiliated with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. First as a volunteer Chairman, later as the COO and ultimately, it's CEO as the company grew from a small community aquarium to a world recognized marine rescue and animal care facility. As time went by Frank and Sue chose to go in separate directions. Sometime later, Frank met the true love of his life Lynn Mucha. They have now been married for over 27 years and have been together over 32 years. As they started their life together in Palm Harbor and Clearwater, they took Haley Frank's second daughter under their wing and played a major part in raising her to become the magnificent person that she is now. While clearly Frank has been an incredibly successful businessman, his greatest pride and accomplishments come from the limitless contributions he has made to his family over the decades. He is a very proud father, grandfather, and great grandfather to both of his daughter's children and a devoted and loving husband to Lynn. Frank is survived by his wife, Lynn; his daughters, Lisa and Haley; their husbands, Doug and Vincent; their granddaughters, Sydney and Marley, Sydney's husband, Ethan; their grandsons, Chase and Ryder and their great-granddaughters June and Kit. Frank is also survived by his loyal and loving sidekick, Rio, his black lab and among the many animals that Frank has taken in and made part of his and Lynn's life. Services will be held at Curlew Funeral Home, 1750 Curlew Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34683, on Sunday, January 14 with visitation beginning at 1 pm, and service at 3 pm. All are welcome. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The Leukemia And Lymphoma Society.