HARVEY E. OYER III

PARTNER, SHUTTS & BOWEN; CHAIRMAN, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BOARD OF PALM BEACH COUNTY, WEST PALM BEACH

For 115 years, Shutts & Bowen has been one of Florida’s leading commercial law firms, with almost 300 lawyers and 500 employees in eight Florida offices. Oyer is also an author. “Recognizing the lack of historical Florida literature for children, I authored The Adventures of Charlie Pierce children’s book series to inculcate in Florida’s future leaders a love of Florida’s unique history and ecology,” he says. The book series is read in school districts throughout the state.

EDUCATION: University of Florida (BA, JD), Cambridge University (M.Phil.)

FIRST JOB: Working on a lobster boat baiting and dropping 100-pound lobster traps in the Atlantic Ocean in Florida’s stifling summer heat for $2.25 per hour.

DREAM ALTERNATE CAREER: Definitely a historian.

SOMETHING SURPRISING: I am a cattle rancher and beekeeper in Okeechobee.

PASSION PROJECT: Saving and preserving Florida’s history. Over the last 25 years, I have led or been a part of preserving a number of Florida’s historic buildings and landscapes, including the preservation and restoration of Palm Beach County’s original courthouse (now a history museum), restoring Palm Beach’s famed Worth Avenue and creating a state underwater historic site on a 19th Century shipwreck. I also helped to create Florida’s first panther conservation bank.