TRIBUTE TO AARON "BUD" MIZELL

PROFILE - SENIOR MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 1993
Aaron Arden "Budd" Mizell has devoted his efforts to his chosen profession, construction engineering. In 1854, the Mizell clan arrived in the New World of opportunity from France, and settled in the Seminole Indian Territory of Florida. The Mizell clan homesteaded forty acres at what is now known as Winter Park, a suburb of Orlando. Over the years, their ranching operations grew to more than 2,000 acres surrounding Lake Mizell. At the turn of the century, the family donated approximately forty acres to a group organizing a new school for agriculture and engineering. This endeavor blossomed into today's "Rollins College". The pioneering Mizell patriarch, a homespun circuit riding attorney, was known as the "Hanging Judge".

Early in the twenties, progress moved in and caused the family to split up and subdivide their holdings. On a recent visit to Florida, Budd had to be restrained from acquiring a Lakefront home on the corner of Mizell Ave. and Genius Street.

Budd Mizell attended Columbia University before taking over the Mizell Construction Co. from his mother, who reluctantly retired at eighty -six! All was well, despite the 1929 depression, until late in 1940, when Budd volunteered to help the Chinese in their struggle with Japan. He joined the American Volunteer group organized by Colonel Chenault, and landed in Kunmig in January 1941, for the specific purpose of building airstrips and radar installations. He returned from the war as a colonel.

He organized Gateway Corporations, with headquarters in Alexandra, Virginia, and went to work in many different states, all east of the Rockies, producing more than 20,000 homes in complete towns during his active years. Retiring is a misnomer for Budd Mizell. He confessed to being a workaholic, and now devotes all his time to his company's investments.

One might refer to Budd as the "Quiet Adventurer". He once sailed his 43 foot yawl solo, from Alexandria, Virginia to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and back to Alexandria. When he "burned out" another time, he took off for Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a camping trip with just a saddle horse and a pack horse for companions.

Budd is past president of the National Association of Home Builders and a past president of the Mid Atlantic Polar Bear Association.