by Anthony DeMatteo
Staff Writer
For more than three decades, J. William Gay has had a quietly important influence on Jacksonville’s City government.
On Friday, Gay leaves the Stockton Street office of W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractors, the business his father, Bill, started in 1962 and grew into a corporation with locations in Orlando, Gainesville and Arkansas, and annual sales of more than $100 million.
Retiring as the senior vice president, the 62-year-old Gay says he’s going to do a lot of hunting and fishing and play a lot of golf, but he hopes to put a new spin on the mission of a small political group he formed about a dozen years ago.
“When the term limitation took effect, we had 14 of 19 city councilmen who were either term limited or not going to run again,” said Gay.
Gay said a candidate for office suggested forming a class for incoming council members.
“I said ‘If you don’t mind, I’ll take that idea and run with it,’” said Gay.
Gay and two other men started meeting each Wednesday.
“The three of us started a year before the election and we picked a candidate that we wanted to win in each of the 14 races,” said Gay. “We’d talk about issues and things they needed to know. We talked about the Sunshine Law and ethics, and so forth.”
Gay said though the group was working in the public interest, there was no media attention.
“The newspaper never found out about it, never picked it up, because if there had been an article, everybody would have said ‘Oh, they’re conspiring.’ Well, we weren’t. We made sure we didn’t talk about anything where we promoted a stance on the issue. It was strictly educational.”
It was also successful. Ten of the candidates the group picked were elected to council seats.
Gay has a soft spot for the rigors of politics, particularly those effecting family members of people running for office, for whom he wants to start a support group.
“I have been extremely blessed,” said Gay. ”Because of the opportunities dad provided for me, now I’m able to retire at 62 and make a difference in a different way.”
Gay says he’s hears a lot about retiring before his father, who turned 80 last October.
“He’s slowed down a good bit,” said Gay of his dad. “He only works about five days a week now. He doesn’t have hobbies because that’s his hobby and his job.”
Bill says he’s not sure whether he will see his son at the office.
“He’s says he’s going to hunt, fish, play golf and not come into the office,” he said. “We’ll see how long that lasts.”
Gay’s wife encouraged him to start playing golf two years ago. Gay said he told her “rednecks don’t play golf.” But he started with the game, and says his score has crept under 100 nine times, and under 90 once.
Both father and son say the company’s founder does not spend time thinking of retiring.
“He’s said for years that early retirement at our company is 85,” Gay said of his father. “In October, he turned 80, and I’ll expect he’ll change it to 95 before long.”
The business
W.W. Gay provides contracting work including plumbing, heating and automatic fire protection for commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
“We do a lot of work in power plants and pulp mills,” said Gay.
The company starts work on a $50 million project with Seminole Electric Company this year.
He says that as W.W. Gay has grown, it has maintained a philosophy of treating its employees well.
Gay says because of his father’s concern for paying workers well and providing benefits including profit sharing, the company probably has the lowest turnover rate in the construction industry.
“Just about all of them have relatives working there,” he said. “One thing we don’t have is a rule against nepotism. But we have good people. Our sign that we put up for the anniversary every year that says ‘our employees are the best in the business’ isn’t just a slogan. They really are the best.”
Bill says his son spent years building up an important part of the family business.
“He did a good job supporting causes in the community,” he said. “He worked a lot with nursing homes and other nonprofits. It’s important to have a good community and you need to participate in it.”
Gay says he likes working with people in the community.
“I’m a people person,” said Gay. “I really enjoy developing relationships. I try to be a safe friend to folks. Somebody to who people can say what’s on their heart and be comfortable it’s not going anywhere else. People, pastors and elected officials need someone they can confide in.”
Gay said he doesn’t always agree with his friends, but they never have to worry about a disagreement going public.
“In the last few years, I’ve mainly worked in public relations and been a legislative liaison,” said Gay. “Some of the people I deal with, we’ll just get out of town on the weekends, some, we’ll have dinner outside the county ... somewhere they can relax and get away from the pressures of government, the church or wherever. Most of us don’t have those kind of pressures. In those two positions, they really have trouble finding people they can trust and be themselves with.”
His philosophy
Gay smiles when a waitress at The Brick, an Avondale restaurant he frequents, asks how many days of work he has left. But, he says, he has spent a lifetime smiling, and for one overriding reason.
“My faith in God,” he said. “I think if you know three things, you don’t have a whole lot to worry about. Number one, God is sovereign. I mean, he created the universe. Number two, he loves us. He sent his son to die for us.”
Number three is a bible verse Gay names as Romans: 8:28.
“All things work together for good for those who love the lord,” he said. “If that’s true, even if something bad happens to me, it’s eventually going to work out for good.”
Gay’s sunny outlook is improved these days by his alma mater’s status as king of the major college sports’ landscape.
“We’ve always done a lot of work at the University of Florida,” he said. “I’m a third generation graduate. My dad graduated in ‘49. My grandmother graduated in 51.”
That grandmother, his mother’s mom, taught school for 12 years after getting her degree.
One of Gay’s six daughters – he has no sons – got her master’s degree from UF. None of the girls have had an active role in W.W. Gay.
Now that he is ready to retire, Gay says, he will spend time with his grandchildren.
“Whatever they have and inclination to do, I want to support them and make them the best in that they can be,” he said. “I think parents’ number one job is to help their children be a success.”