David William Wolkowsky was a real estate developer from Key West, Florida.
16 Facts About David Wolkowsky
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David Wolkowsky is credited with transforming the city from a navy town to a tourist destination.
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David Wolkowsky's grandfather, Abraham Wolkowsky, was a Russian Jewish immigrant who moved to Key West in 1886, where he initially worked as a peddler and eventually operated businesses including clothing stores, furniture stores, and saloons.
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David Wolkowsky had two sisters: Edna Wolkowsky and Ruth W Greenfield, a musician and social activist in Miami.
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David Wolkowsky has another nephew, Miami based attorney Joseph Lipsky, and a niece, Kim Lipsky, a congressional staffer.
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David Wolkowsky returned to Key West in late 1962, after the death of his father, Isaac David Wolkowsky, to deal with the properties that he inherited from his father.
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In 1963, David Wolkowsky acquired the old Cuban Ferry Dock, choice waterfront property near Mallory Square, for $106,000.
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David Wolkowsky lifted the 1890 Porter Steamship office off of its foundation and moved it 300 feet out, setting it on pilings in 40 feet of water.
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David Wolkowsky transformed the Steamship office into "Tony's Fish Market", a restaurant and cocktail lounge where guests could watch shrimp boats in the channel on their way into port.
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In 1967, Wolkowsky hired architect Yiannis B Antonidis to help design a motel around the restaurant, with 50 unique rooms, to which 50 more rooms that faced the ocean were quickly added.
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David Wolkowsky built a large house and guest house on the island and entertained many of his writer friends there, including Tennessee Williams and Capote.
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David Wolkowsky is known for serving hot dogs, white wine and potato chips to guests including British Prime Minister Edward Heath, various Rockefellers, Mellons and Vanderbilts.
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David Wolkowsky donated the island to The Nature Conservancy and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
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In 2000, David Wolkowsky created a Teacher Merit Awards fund, which gives $5,000 to each of nine Key West teachers as well as a $25,000 award to a single teacher each year; the fund continues after his death.
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David Wolkowsky rented his bamboo-covered waterfront trailer to Truman Capote, who wanted to spend the winter in Key West.
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David Wolkowsky had restored the building, renting out the ground floor to department store "Fast Buck Freddies" and the upper floors to the Key West Parole Department.