Mr. Daniel Accardo, age 60, of Miramar Beach, Florida passed away March 18, 2011. He was born February 23, 1951 in Palermo, Italy to Angelo and Lillian Celano Accardo. Mr. Accardo worked as a developer in the Real Estate Industry for many years in Chicago, Illinois. His residential developments in Lake County on Chicagos North Shore, won numerous Gold Key Awards from his peers. He was a very accomplished Artist, he enjoyed bicycling, swimming, hiking, traveling and music. Mr. Accardo was preceded in death by his parents and one uncle Rosario Celano. Mr. Accardo is survived by his best friend and business partner for 24 years Hamilton D. Harper III of Miramar Beach; special cousins Benny and Vita RaVenna, and his God Parents Carmello and Rose Napoli. Memorial services will be held 2:00 PM, Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at Christ the King Episcopal Church in Santa Rosa Beach 480 North County Highway 393, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida 32459, with Father Frank Cooper IV officiating. Flowers are being accepted or donations may be made to the Children of the Muskogee Indian Tribe in care of Christ the King Episcopal Church.Memorialization will be by cremation.Daniel Diego Accardo Daniel Accardo was a fascinating, complex and unique individual who had the kind of life that would scare some people, amaze others but always leave you with an unforgettable impression. His friend Hamilton used to call him a Hybrid personality. There was simply no one like him. He was proud of his Italian and especially his Sicilian heritage since he had been born there in Palermo. His heritage and life was the kind of stuff you see in movies. His father Angelo Accardo was from a small peasant town in the mountains of Sicily, was drafted by Mussolini to fight as Italy invaded Ethiopia and was captured by the British in 1939. They sent him to spend the next six years at a POW camp in India. His mother Lillian Celano was from a large family that owned vineyards in the hills nearby Palermo. When World War II began, all of her brothers were drafted into Mussolini's armed forces leaving her behind with only her elderly parents and youngest brother who was only 14. As the war progressed thugs from the local mafia took advantage of the situation, seized their farm and killed her youngest brother who had tried to stop them. He was mutilated and hung upside down from a tree in the vineyard. Almost all of her other brothers were killed in the war except for one named Rosario. He was a handsome, gentle soul who loved to laugh and sing. Dino would come to love him greatly in later years. Rosario had not had communications from his family for some time and when Italy started to fall to the allies, he left the army to go back home. He found his parents and sister living homeless and almost starving on the streets of war ravaged Palermo. Their beautiful vineyards were taken and his beloved brother, the baby of the family, had been brutally murdered. He helped the family start a small grocery store but secretly vowed to restore the family honor and seek revenge. The grocery store is where Angelo & Lillian met and fell in love. Dan was born on February 21, 1951 at the whopping size of 16lbs 9 ounces! (It was something his mother never let him forget!) In fact the Prince & Princess of Italy at the time actually came to see this huge baby after he was born while they were on a tour of Sicily. His parents had named him Diego Accardo. Diego or Dino as they nicknamed him loved to go up into the sun drenched hills with his parents on picnics where there were lots of sheep and goats for him to play with. A few years after he was born, his Uncle Rosario attempted to get back the original Celano property from the thugs who had killed his youngest brother and seized their farm. This started a bloody feud and led to a family decision to leave Italy to avoid further bloodshed. Dan's mother's sister, his Aunt Frances had immigrated to America in the roaring prohibition era 1920s where she worked as a seamstress for Hart, Sheffner & Marx. Frances had never married so she agreed to be a sponsor for her sister's family which of course included the young Dino. She herself had become a proud American citizen many years earlier. Another sister had gone to Argentina years beforehand and was also willing to sponsor Dino's family as well as her brother Rosario. By a quirk of fate, the US was first to accept Dino's family for immigration to America while Argentina sponsored his Uncle Rosario. In 1956, at the young age of five, Dino sailed on a ship to New York with his parents and beloved grandmother. His parents had been told that America was so rich that some of the streets were literally paved with gold. Although they were already in their forties, they looked forward to a new life with their only child away from the war and the horrors of what had happened to them in Sicily. Little Dino remembered being on the deck with them as they passed the Statue of Liberty in New York's bustling harbor, a sight he would never forget. After clearing Ellis Island customs, they immediately boarded a train for Chicago. The Accardos arrived shortly before Thanksgiving and his Aunt changed his name officially to Daniel since she said he was to be an American now and should not be called Diego. His parents went to work in the clothing factory almost the very next day after they arrived at the same company where Francis Celano had worked for over thirty years. Dino was taken care of by his beloved grandmother. It was a difficult life. They all lived in a small two bedroom apartment in one of Chicago's Italian urban neighborhoods. His parents and Aunt Francis each had their own bedrooms but his grandmother slept on a cot that was pulled out in the dining room and Dino' s bedroom was a couch in the living room. He saw how hard his parents worked and missed them terribly in this strange new world, although his sweet, beloved grandmother helped console him. The first time Dino saw snow, he got scared. Everything had turned white and cold which was nothing like the warm sunny hills of Sicily. Chicago was loud and intimidating. His parents and especially his Aunt Francis made him learn English as soon as possible, which he did quickly. Beforehand he had to rely on body language alone, because Americans did not speak Italian. Once he learned the new language his parents used him as their interpreter since only his Aunt spoke both languages. He grew up very fast. It was Francis that described his special Italian heritage to him, told him he was from a noble Sicilian farming family and that he was always to be a perfect American gentleman. He was like the son she never had and she made sure his ambitions matched her own. She took him to Marshall Fields to show him the opulence of affluent Chicago and her vision of the American Dream. Francis, Lillian and Angelo had to take two and sometimes three buses to get to work early every morning. However, his mother and aunt always left the house in some of their best attire. Once they got to the factory, they changed into work clothes but changed back into their finery before taking the buses back home. Francis insisted upon this routine. She took Dino to the gorgeous Palm Court restaurant at the Palmer House Hotel to teach him dining etiquette. He marveled at the starched white table cloths, napkins and tuxedo clad waiters running around the elegant, palm strewn room. His parents had saved up enough money for Dan to go to a private Catholic High School. This became a whole new world to him because he met happy, beautiful young girls and perfectly dressed guys who did not live in the tough inner city neighborhood where he grew up and where his bedroom was a couch. He was invited to their birthday parties that were held in big Chicago north shore mansions on Lake Michigan in picture perfect towns like Wilmette, Winnetka and Lake Forest. They all seemed to have a fun, idyllic life and never had to worry about things like simple survival. Dan called them and always referred to them as Cake Eaters and aspired to become like them. He felt trapped in a life he didn't like and was constantly told what to do and not do by both parents, his aunt and even his grandmother. There was no freedom as everyone constantly imparted their infinite expectations and a lot of guilt if their frequent demands were not fully satisfied. At the age of sixteen Dan rebelled, left home and decided to seek out life on his own. He did finish high school with continuing education courses while he worked at odd jobs for little pay. When he turned eighteen Dan went to work selling Mexican made souvenir articles to retail shops in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. He loved traveling across the countryside in his old car, since he had not seen much of America outside of Chicago. Dan loved being on the road and found that he was a natural born salesman. His parents sent him to Milwaukee to attend Marquette University where he had been accepted but he was making so much money he didn't want to go. Instead, he traveled to Mexico and started his own Import/Export business. His business quickly blossomed and within only a few short years, he had become a millionaire. He was now everything his family and Aunt Francis wanted him to become, the American Dream personified. In 1980 he and a business associate started a residential land development company called Country Estates . He immediately bought his parents and Aunt Francis a beautiful suburban home in Libertyville, one of those so called Cake Eater towns that he could now afford. It had a big yard so his father could grow his own fruit and gardens. He started his first development here which was called Meadow Woods. How Dan loved walking the fields, platting the land and determining how to weave the roads into the forest. He spent a fortune making sure that every possible oak tree could be spared and took great pride in the creation of a beautiful neighborhood. After the roads were completed, his Aunt Francis was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. One day, he carried her outside and placed her in his car. He wanted to show his Aunt Francis Celano a special surprise that he had planned in her honor. They drove to Meadow Woods and he showed her the street sign which stood at it's entrance. It was named Celano Drive to commemorate the family heritage she had instilled within him. She died shortly thereafter. The success of Meadow Woods led to the creation of two more subdivisions on River Road which was horse country to the affluent Chicago set. They included Huntington Lakes complete with an artificial waterfall and pond at the beautifully landscaped entrance as well as Daybreak Farms with a stone gated entrance down the road. The lot sizes were huge and now his company was building big spec homes in all sorts of varieties from brick Georgian Colonials to huge Victorian inspired mansions and everything in between. His subdivisions and homes were recognized by his peers and he won several Chicago Gold Key Awards for Excellence in Landscaping Designs and architecture. Life was good and he was very generous with his success. His staff was extremely well paid. In fact on sales employee anniversary dates, he sent them in his limo to Chicago for dinner and a night out. He donated to orphanages and Catholic charities. One time he met an intelligent young man who was hauling lumber as a laborer on one of his construction sites. He was impressed by his hard work, thought he had great promise and gave him a scholarship to attend school. The young man became a successful Chiropractor in a few short years. Dan also was able to get involved with developments south of Cancun, Mexico along the coast which he adored. He worked with a Mexican who was a Senator and who's family was old and patrician. He toured all the Incan and Aztec ruins, enjoying the exotic but laid back life style. Dan started training so that he could hike to the top of the Incan ruins at Machu Picchu. He wanted to stay there forever but was always having to hop a plane back to look after his parents. He was, after all, their only child and they seemed lost without him. In 1987, Dan was called back to Chicago by his company after the stock market crash and to look after his now ailing parents who needed more help. His business associate had become an intense alcoholic and Dan found the company suffering because of it. Much to his own dismay, Dan sold off his beloved coastal investments near Cancun in order to take care of business at home. He and his business partner could not resolve differences and started a tumultuous business break up. Assets were numerous and could not be resolved. Dan froze the assets of the company which backfired since one of the big banks had been holding $50,000 of his parent's CDs as collateral on a minor loan that Dan had been paying for them. The president of the bank said that he was going to close in since Dan had frozen the other accounts while things were in litigation and that he would start by taking his parent's CDs. At this same time Dan had met Hamilton at a business trade meeting in Chicago. Hamilton worked as a National News Manager for Construction Market Data out of Atlanta. He had been sent to Chicago to work with their operations there. They became extremely good friends and Dan offered him a job as a General Manager for what would become his new company after assets were divided from the old one. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter Dan was arrested for possession of marijuana. He had been coerced by a former friend to raise some quick money. The so called friend had called him thirty times to get him to go along with a deal which was all documented in phone recordings from the Feds. The informant had struck a deal with the Federal government to get out of a cocaine charge. After over one year of trial, Dan was charged with possession and intent to sell marijuana with a sentence of one year. He was devastated because his hard sought reputation was ruined since he had made banner headlines in all the local papers. He was also was greatly concerned over who would take care of his elderly parents. Hamilton took over managing his construction projects for him and visited his parents every Sunday just as Dan had done. He had also hired a dear friend, Vita Ravenna, to look after his folks. Vita was like a second Mother to him while growing up. Indeed, the Ravenna family had been close friends with the Accardos in Sicily before immigrating to Chicago themselves. While away, Dan learned how to draw in order to pass the time and found he had a passionate talent for artistry. In early 1990 after over a year, Dan returned home welcomed by his family with big yellow ribbons strung from all the trees. His business had done quite well while he was away. Land parcels as well as big houses had sold and the accounts were full again. He started development plans for a 63 unit, luxury town home project and purchased a five acre estate that had been built by the Otis Elevator family in the 1920s. It had been in foreclosure and was a gem of a rehab project for resale. He and Hamilton cleared the grounds themselves discovering lost gardens in the woods which were restored. The house sat on the highest point in Lake County with thirty mile views towards the west for sunsets. It had both an indoor and outdoor swimming pool but needed a lot of work. Dan's favorite part of the house which he named Ivanhoe Manor was the Great Room which had been the frame of an original old barn. It had been moved to the top of this hill when the Otis family built the house around it in the 1920s. The barn sized room had 150 year old hand hewn beams with a cathedral ceiling, a row of tall French doors facing west for the views and a fireplace at each end. His business lawyer at the time said it exemplified what he called rustic elegance. As the work was completed and the house was ready to sell, Dan's father died suddenly of a heart attack. This occurred the same day that Iraq invaded Kuwait and shortly thereafter the real estate market went into limbo. Now he had to take care of his Mom, which he was really unprepared to do. However, Ivanhoe Manor was large enough to encompass everyone, since it was huge and even had a guest house. He took it off the market, moved his Mom in, filled in the indoor pool to create a beautiful suite for her and started work on the sixty-three unit town home development which he named Green Fields. Life was good again. He would hold giant annual Christmas parties at Ivanhoe every year with a Santa giving out treats for the kids and lottery tickets to their parents. Dan got box seats every year at Chicago's Orchestra Hall for Handel's Messiah which he loved. He would take his Mom and business partner Hamilton via limo to attend. Now his Mom was living like a queen and it gave him great satisfaction because she had such a difficult early life. Time passed, he sold off most of his vacant lots and invested a huge amount of money into the new project. It seemed everything went wrong with it. The Illinois Department of Transportation shut it down for six months of study because they were considering a new four lane highway nearby. The Lake County Forest Preserve said they wanted to buy it for a considerable amount of money but after several months, they went away. The county itself threw obstacle after obstacle at the project which Dan was convinced was somehow jinxed. It dragged on for years and now he was running out of money. His mother became ill and he had to attend to her physical needs himself although he really hated it. Hamilton helped as well but Dan was honor bound to do so as the dutiful son and insisted on providing most of her care himself. Eventually he had to set up hospice service and now he was going broke. He and Hamilton met with a Chicago lawyer due to yet another delay with the town home project. The lawyer was convinced that it had some kind of enemy that was secretly undermining the project. He said that for $5,000 he could find out who it was. There was no money left to give him and a few weeks later his mother died in her bed. Dan was at her side, comforting her and saying that everything was all right because she had been aware of the money situation. After her funeral, he sold the town home project, lost his beloved Ivanhoe Manor and all of his other properties. He retained 25% interest in the project but the new owner was sued by a neighboring homeowner's association who had somehow retained one of the most expensive law firms in Chicago. It was later found that the bill for this law firm was being paid by a Chicago department store heir and another individual who owned a publishing company. It so happened that they both had summer homes down the street from the town homes and did not want more traffic on their road. Dan relocated to nearby Milwaukee where he continued to be involved with the town home project and pursued his greatest hobby which was the creation of Faberge type decorative art which was made out of real goose, duck and ostrich eggs. He found that he had a huge passion for this art form and soon people wanted to buy them. His work was featured in articles in the Milwaukee Journal, several Wisconsin magazines, the Destin Log and even the Delta Airlines In-Flight magazine. He started a couple of retail stores around Milwaukee which sold his own egg artistry as well as decorative arts from Russia, Italy and exotic antiquities from China. His handcrafted Christmas ornaments were particular treasures which sold for $25 up to $100 a piece. He used to say that he received more pleasure and sincere compliments on his ornaments from people than he ever did on the beautiful houses he completed. The customers who bought his ornaments were always giving them as a special Christmas or Easter gift to their special loved ones. Many times they came in to tell him how much the gift meant to the ones who received them, often in tears! He delighted in the fact that his creations were pulled out of someone's special box to hang on a tree at Christmas or be placed out for Easter. Dan also relished the fact that the eggs had such life affirming messages and legends related to Resurrection, Birth and New Life. In 2001 after a visit to Destin with his partner Hamilton, he decided to relocate there. They started selling his work at the mall and helped establish Grayton Corners in Grayton Beach. For about a year he ran a co-op called Peridot Marketplace before getting back involved with real estate again. He had a huge amount of charisma and had once been told that he could sell icicles to Eskimos, which was probably true! He was a Man's Man with a compassionate heart. People were always drawn to him and he could generally read people rather well. Remember, he had become an expert at Body Language as a young boy. Dan made a large amount of money again in real estate but like so many others here along the Emerald Coast, he lost a lot when the market went from booming down to the bust of the Great Recession to the BP Oil Disaster Limbo. When he wasn't working, he spent his time now on something he felt he could control which was being in great physical shape. He biked all over Sandestin where he lived, did 70 laps in the pool, lifted weights, and swam in the Gulf. In fact when he first moved to Destin he swam in the Gulf every sunny day even during the Winter! He was a proud swimmer because he had learned it as an adult at his local gym. Life can be strange sometimes. In fact life or truth can be stranger than fiction as they say. In 2010, Dan started to do research on the burgeoning new Medicinal Marijuana Agribusiness that is now thriving in fifteen US states even during a severe recession. In December with the help of investors and close friends, he received seed money to attend a giant industry convention in Denver. He was his old self again, charming and charismatic and with a compassionate belief in this new medicine that has saved thousands from pain, depression and a wide variety of ailments without negative side effects. It has even been proven in new medical studies to stop and reverse some types of cancer cell growth! As Dan would say, everything that goes around, comes around. He made a huge amount of contacts and was thrilled to recently learn that the State of Florida is introducing legislation in 2012 to legalize marijuana for medicinal usage. The latest poll shows 57% in favor. In a letter that he sent out just last Wednesday to a national Medicinal Marijuana consultant in Denver, he stated the following: I feel that my involvement symbolizes the passage of my soul out of the darkness and into the light of tomorrow which the Medicinal Marijuana Movement holds promise for. The courageous, ambitious, intelligent men and women with conviction and guts to do the hard work, will reap the rewards both financially and spiritually from this movement which alleviates human suffering. I am an excellent people person. People trust me instinctively. I am charismatic and compassionate. I am strong willed and loving. Dan was all of these things and more. He was robust, both passionate and compassionate; a funny, witty, sensitive, generous, courageous, amazing hybrid of humanity. Most everyone who met him will always remember him. For those whom he loved and for those who loved him in return, he will be sorely missed until we reunite with him again in God's Love.