John Gabel

The Sun Has Set John Gabel

This is a story about the "runaway" development of a Florida town that became the center of a major metropolitan area by the end of the 20th century. Included are a land scam; the racial, ethnic and religious prejudice of the small Florida town; a search for family roots; and the "take over" of the town's failing bank by the Caldwell family from Alpena, Michigan after the hurricane of 1926. The bank developed into a statewide banking empire through both acquisitions and a merger with a banking group larger than itself that got caught up in the construction boom-bust cycle in the mid-1970s. All went well until a financier with a tainted reputation started buying the bank's holding company stock threatening the Caldwell family control which forced the Caldwells to find a "savior" with whom to merge. Anyone ever connected with a merger can identify with the anguish and disruption of hundreds of lives of the owners, management and employees of the so called "mergee," the weaker party in the merger. All references to national and Florida banking regulations are real. Much of this book is based on real events while other parts are fictional. Some characters are a composite of persons who actually exist or existed. Much of what was done and said is not pretty. The names and places have been changed to protect both the guilty and the innocent.