Ernest Shahid
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Ernest Shahid (August 12, 1921 – December 31, 2008), a pioneering Florida commercial real estate developer, helped transform Destin and coastal Okaloosa County into a major tourist vacation destination. Shahid built the first major highrise condominium complex on the Emerald Coast in 1971.[1] Its success sparked a flurry of resort complexes and economic development.
Ernest Wadere Shahid was born in South Carolina into a family of Lebanese immigrants. He spent his childhood in Timmonsville before leaving to attend Presbyterian College where he played on the football team. Shahid married Margaret Pharo of Birmingham, Alabama, in 1942 and served in the Army Air Corps between 1943 and 1945. Following his military service the Shahids moved to Birmingham where Ernest worked at his father-in-law's five-and-dime store. There he had three children, Ernest Jr, Wayne, and Cary and three more once he relocated to Destin; Mark and the twins (Lisa and Lynda).