Summer 2008
Judi and Davis Rembert:
GIVING BACK
By David Greenberg
Photography by David Johnston, Johnston Photography
Those simple words from Davis Rembert say volumes about the way he and his wife, Judi, feel about this community and the many organizations that are dear to their hearts. That’s because a family foundation is one of the simplest and most common ways of giving back.
In fact, after a long and successful professional career, the couple says there are two things that drive them more than anything else – giving to the causes that are special to them and their children – Mary, Ken and Jonathan – and their grandchildren – Will, Davis, Emma, Zander and Brianna.
“We are Mimi and PopPop,” said Judi Rembert, “and nothing comes before that. They are our life. When you have grandchildren you really learn what is important in life.”
But that is really a simplification of the role they have in this community. Because of their efforts a number of people too numerous to track have had the opportunity to turn their lives around.
Who would have thought that this couple could have ended up with the opportunity to help so many people? But what is most important is the fact that they grabbed that opportunity, and live it every day.
It is not only a great success story, but the Remberts' tale is also a walk down memory lane for this community.
Davis Rembert was born in Alachua County Hospital (now Shands at AGH) in 1940. Judi Rembert was born there three years later. They did not meet until they were both at Gainesville High School.
GROWING UP IN GAINESVILLE
“One thing stands out for me from my childhood days,” said Judi. “There were no good restaurants in Gainesville. We had to drive across the Marion County line to go to a place called Ruby’s.”
Both started their lives in the duck Pond area in northeast Gainesville. At age eight, Judi moved to Northwest Eighth Avenue and 22nd Street. Davis’ family lived in a big rental home that extended for half a block on Northeast Eighth Avenue and Second Street. His next-door neighbor was State Senator William Shands, who became a future mentor for Davis and for whom the hospital is named.
Davis and most of his friends had little jobs – turning in Coke bottles for two cents each, collecting lead from old homes that was melted down for plumbers to use, delivering the Florida Times Union, and, of course, working at Florida Field.
While living in Gainesville all their lives, it took Gainesville High School to bring the couple together.
“I saw her walking on the other side of the school corridor,” said Davis. “I told a friend that I wanted to meet her. She went out for the swimming team, so it made sense for me to do that – join the team just to meet her.”
Judi said that they started dating after that. When it was time for college, Davis’s father encouraged him to attend Chipola Junior College in Marianna. In his second year, Davis and Judi “tied the knot,” and moved to Marianna to complete schooling there.
They moved back to Gainesville, where Davis earned a business degree from the University of Florida in 1963. The highest-paying job he could find was selling commercial tableware for Corning Glass Works – earning $6,300 a year.
But that took them away from Gainesville again. First it was Atlanta, and then New York – all between 1963 and 1971. During those years, the family started to grow.
By the time they moved to New Jersey, where Davis commuted to work each day, they had three children – Mary, 4, Ken, 2, and Davis’ brother, Thomas, 11. Jonathan came along in 1970.
“We had a lot of fun during those years, and we accomplished a lot,” said Davis. “But we knew where we wanted to plant our permanent roots for our family, so we moved back to Gainesville in 1972.”
It was after that return that a business decision occurred that would change the family forever – buying United Fuels. That put him in charge of a business with a tremendous amount of growth potential, and before he was done Davis realized all that potential when his Sprint Stores became a common, local landmark.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT BEGINS
But he did more than just grow a business success story during this period.
“That was really when we started to get involved in charitable and community activities,” he said. “There were a number of organizations that we became attached to quickly.”
Being involved in the Gainesville community organizations throughout those years as president of the chamber and Rotary, both he and Judi came to the rewards of giving to a place where you live.
There was also a business plan in place to make the company grow, and over time, that plan included bringing in family.
When they were old enough, Ken and Jonathan Rembert worked in the Sprint Stores. Ken, especially, moved up on a fast track, starting as a night manager at one store, then store manager and finally the supervisor for the stores. In fact, he says that’s where he cut his teeth in the customer-service industry. Today he is the owner of the highly popular Bagel Bakery in the Millhopper Shopping Center and the Gainesville TCBY stores.
Local writer Bev Browning met the Remberts when they owned United Fuels. Browning, who was at UF, was initially resistant when Davis Rembert asked her to become the vice president for marketing at the company. But looking back, she says it is a decision that she is now glad she made.
“It was a 180-degree change for me,” said Browning. “It took a lot of teaching on his part. He did it patiently. Instead of firing me, which is what he should have done, Davis instead told me to do something – to do anything. He said the only person who never makes a mistake is a person who never does anything. He told me that if I made a mistake, they would fix it. He kept his word. I made mistakes, and he fixed them.”
But for Browning, there is much more to the Remberts than that business lesson.
“With Judi and Davis, it is truly a case of what you see is what you get,” she said. “They are self-made, so they have so much gratitude. They give back, but they are not only generous of pocket, they are generous of spirit.”
While Davis was running the company, Judi was by no means idle, selling real estate for five years, raising the children, and then going back to work at United Fuels as well.
By the late 1990s, the Remberts decided it was time for another change, so they sold the business.
While the Sprint Stores and United Fuels play a significant role in the area’s business and economic history, it is the Remberts’ next phase that will have this family leaving a positive mark on this community for years to come.
The first step was to create the Davis Family Foundation with 10 percent of the proceeds from the sales. Then they started investing the assets of the foundation. The net worth of the foundation grew, and within 10 years, it had given away in charitable donations 70 percent of what it started with.
It’s one thing to give away money. Judi and Davis Rembert open their home to selected charitable organizations – literally. Currently, as many as seven times a year, they hold fundraising events for the organizations. But while holding an event at the Hilton or the Oaks Mall is certainly great, there’s nothing like coming to the farm.
After much searching as far north as Georgia, the Remberts bought 800 acres in Alachua.
“I always wanted a farm,” he said. “We looked in Georgia, but Judi said that was too far away.”
Judi Rembert apparently had her eyes on the Alachua property.
“I told Davis that if we ever got this land it might be fun to build a home on it,” she said. “My father, George Creighton, had a cattle ranch on a beautiful piece of land in the Kanapaha Ranch. I have fond memories of growing up there surrounded by family and friends.”
BUILDING A FAMILY HOME
On the Alachua property, they have built a farm-style home. The rest of the developed property includes a refurbished pole barn, children’s playground equipment, a pond and a restored, antique, replica gas station. And there are plans for more.
The property has become a family commune, as Jonathan, his wife, Lavonne, and their children, Emma and Zander live in a home which Jonathan constructed himself. Ken, his wife, Belinda, and their children, Will and Davis, are living on the property, and are planning to build a home in the near future. Mary lives in Orlando with her new, 18-month-old daughter, Brianna.
Davis likes to do a lot more than putter around the farm, said Judi.
“One day he decided he didn’t like the barn,” she said. “He got into his tractor, and took the side out of it. He restructured it, put in lights, and added a floor for square dancing. It started looking nice, so we used it for family parties.”
Then a local group called The Dignity Project, which offers vocational training and services for the economically disadvantaged, approached the Remberts.
“They were in financial problems, and they asked us to help raise money to get things turned around,” Davis said. “I talked to a few people, and we came up with the idea of a Boys Night Out at the farm. We raised close to $50,000.”
John Kirkpatrick, who has known Davis since high school, but says they really became close about six years ago, was involved in that project. Kirkpatrick says he is amazed by all that Judi and Davis do.
“They are the most generous people we know,” he said. “The first thing that makes them special is that they walk their faith. And in their giving, they don’t just throw money around. They are always looking to make their money do good.”
Kirkpatrick says the couple is often invited to fundraising events because Davis is known to drive up the prices at auctions. Once, said Kirkpatrick, Davis got the bidding up to $20,000 on a championship ring from Urban Meyer. When Davis bowed out, the ring went to another bidder. But Meyer quickly chimed in that he had another one, so Davis ended up making his $20,000 donation.
The concept that started with the Dignity Project has grown. Other charitable organizations coming out to the farm now include Haven Hospice, the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts Bikers on Parade and the Wild Turkey Federation.
But that’s not the limit of the family’s charitable work. Among the many other beneficiaries are the Urban Meyer Scramble, United Way, Trinity United Methodist Church, PACE for Girls, the Child Advocacy Center, Junior Achievement, Young Life, Children’s Miracle Network, Take Stock in Children and Shands Cancer Hospital.
“We would love to give to everybody,” said Judi. “It is certainly hard to pick and choose. They are all such good causes.”
They will not say how much they donate, but it was reported by Shands earlier this year that the couple had made a $5 million donation to the cancer hospital fund drive.
“For a long time we resisted publicizing our charitable work,” said Davis. “It was actually the kids who convinced us to do it. They said that if more people like us know what we are doing, they might do it as well.”