Grant Lacerte

GRANT
LACERTE, 64
CEO

WINTER HAVEN - Grant Lacerte, 64, passed on September 2, 2008, after a courageous battle with cancer.
Grant was born June 11, 1944, in Winnipeg Canada. He moved to Winter Haven in 1956 and graduated from Winter Haven High School in 1962 where he met his wife of 44 years, Karen Goodman.
Grant served as Executive Vice President of Data Corporation of America, Reston, VA. He received a Bachelors degree from George Washington University and a MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Grant was a visionary entrepreneur in the financial services and payroll industries. In 1979, Grant developed a system known as the "DCA 1700" that enabled companies to do their accounting and payroll telephonically - 20 years before the ubiquity of the web. With Karen, he co-founded Financial Research Associates and Certa Data Corporation. He was CEO of Certipay America at the time of his passing.
Grant was a devoted husband, father, son and brother. He was preceded in death by his father, Arcel Lacerte and is survived by his wife, Karen; sons, Grant Jr. and René (Joyce); mother, Rita Lacerte; sister, Claudette McKenna (John) and grandchildren, Alec, Bennett and Karen Cristina as well as many beloved nephews and nieces.
He will be remembered for his love, determination, generosity, passion and his music. He is loved and missed by many and forgotten by none.
The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday September 5th, 2008, at Ott-Laughlin Funeral Home, 645 Central Avenue, Winter Haven. Funeral Services will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday September 6th at St. Joseph's Catholic Church Chapel, 6th Street and Avenue M Northwest, Winter Haven.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to lung cancer research may be made at http://lungevtiy.org/grantlacerte.