Raymond Knight Mason, who built one of Jacksonville’s biggest companies and became a national and international figure, died Jan. 2 at age 92.
Mason ran The Charter Co., which generated big revenue from the oil business but was a diverse company with more than 180 subsidiaries at its peak.
Mason was just 36 when he became president of Charter, the new name of a company that traced its history to the Mason Lumber Co. in 1919.
Charter's interests included insurance, banking, convenience stores and popular magazines Redbook and Ladies Home Journal.
The company ranked 61st in the Fortune 500 list of America's corporations with 1983 revenue of $5.6 billion.
However, a drop in the oil market and problems with Charter's insurance businesses sent the company into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 1984.
When the company emerged from Chapter 11 in 1987, it was a different corporation after selling off many of its businesses in the reorganization process.
Charter was an international business and it gave Mason an opportunity to play a role in global affairs.
In November 1975, he hosted President Gerald Ford and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for talks in Jacksonville at San Jose Club and Epping Forest, which was then Mason’s estate.
Mason more recently lived in an Orange Park estate along the St. Johns River that he sold in 2018. It now is a boutique hotel and conference center known as Azaleana Manor.
Mason moved back into Jacksonville into the VillaRiva condominium in Riverside.
Mason's wife, Minerva, died May 19 at the age of 93.
Mrs. Mason's obituary said Raymond Mason is survived by two children: Raymond Knight Mason Jr. (Cabeth) and daughter Marcy Mason Moody (Tom); five grandchildren: Raymond Michael Steuert, Raymond Knight Mason III (Jenny), Nicky Moody Ordway (Demian), Joseph John Steuert V. (Trenholm), and Anne Woodward Moody; and four great-grandchildren.
Mason left a legacy of business leaders in Jacksonville. At Charter, Mason hired young executives and sent them around the world to tend to his network of oil, insurance, communications and other companies. Many of those hires remained in Jacksonville as successful businessmen and women.
Financiers, bankers, investors and other Charter veterans included Howard Serkin, Steve Wilson, Jack Uible, Mac McGriff, Ray Van Landingham, Penny Thompson, Chester Stokes, Hawley Smith, Heyward Cantrell, Curtis Loftin, Jim Winston, Fred McGinnis, Russell Newton, Bruce Bower, Dix Druce, W. Frost Weaver, and a long list of others.
The Charter Co.'s Downtown headquarters was at 21 W. Church St., a 19-story building now owned by JEA. The top floor, where the JEA board meets, for some time featured a revolving restaurant.
The bankruptcy led to another legacy deal. Gate Petroleum Co. founder Herb Peyton bought Epping Forest as Charter filed bankruptcy and he turned it into the Epping Forest Yacht Club.
"Raymond meant so much to so many, first and foremost his family, but his death, although not unexpected, truly means the end of an era in Jacksonville history that will hopefully never be forgotten," said Penny Thompson, who was manager of community relations for The Charter Co.
Thompson said services are scheduled at 11 a.m. Jan. 10 at Riverside Presbyterian Church, 849 Park St.
For information about services and for photos from the family, visit https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/jacksonville-fl/raymond-mason-8982481
Karen Brune Mathis contributed to this report.
