Tom Naylor, Dania Beach Water Gardens and Gifts, passed away July 15, 2008. He will be missed by his family and many friends.

Tom was born in Ohio, and graduated from Brecksville High School, Brecksville, Ohio, in 1968. Tom attended Ohio Northern University, was a member of Delta Sigma Phi, and graduated in 1973. He then went on to pursue his chosen profession as a perfusionist, a trained health professional who operates the heart-lung machines during cardiac surgeries. Tom worked at North Ridge Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for over 25 years.

Tom's real love started as a hobby and blossomed into a second career. This was raising orchids, bromeliads and most importantly waterlilies. He was hooked as a young boy after marveling at the waterlilies at the Tricker Aquatic Nursery in Independence, Ohio. Tom belonged to the Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies, Orchid Societies, the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society and was a founding member of Water Gardeners International.

In Plantation, Florida, Tom's Plantation Tropicals thrived even as a hobby. On his 50th birthday he decided to turn his hobby into a business. He purchased and restored a Dania Beach landmark, the old Frost family home, and opened it to the public as Dania Beach Water Gardens and Gifts. Here he was able to showcase the possibilities of water features. Many varieties of waterlilies grow in holding ponds surrounded by bronze statuary and pond water "squirters" in such whimsical forms as lounging frogs, dolphins and nymphs. Tom's favorite saying was a modest, "It is what it is." But that barely describes the tranquil atmosphere on entering the establishment.