"The true test of a mechanical contractor is if he can do a hospital right."

That has been the long-time philosophy of W.W. Gay, and his employees will tell you he means it. The mechanical contractor behind Methodist Medical Center, and every other hospital in Jacksonville since he opened his business in 1962, must be doing something right.

Making of a Leader

William Wiley Gay was born in West Palm Beach on October 15, 1926. His father, W.H. Gay, was a blacksmith who worked in the moveable lumber mills of his day, and, in 1940, his travels brought the family to Jacksonville. W.W. Gay was 14.

While in West Palm, his father had become acquainted with Addison Meisner, an architect who is remembered as somewhat wild and agnostic. Meisner’s mother, on her deathbed, extracted a promise from her son to design and build a church. In his roguish way, Meisner designed the Riverside Baptist Church in the tradition of a Catholic cathedral. W.H. Gay did the ornamental ironwork you see today in this marvelous historic structure.

Upon graduation from Lee High School, W.W. Gay entered the University of Florida, but the war was in full swing. He joined the Merchant Marine and was selected for Radio Officers training. He served his country in the Atlantic and Pacific, returning to the University of Florida after the fighting was over. He graduated with a degree in Education in 1949 and went to work for the contracting firm of Henley and Beckwith.

Having met Eloise Duncan while he was working as a student teacher at U.F. in 1948, he married her in 1950. They have four children, two sons and two daughters.

In the next few years, the family was to move a lot for projects with Henley and Beckwith. Mr. Beckwith had become a kind of surrogate father for Bill, his own father having passed away when he was 18. Mr. Beckwith's son and grandson still work for W.W. Gay today.

"The first thing we did when we got to a new town was find a church," recalls his son John William Gay (you know him as Bill Gay, Jr.)

In 1954, the family came back to Jacksonville, and Bill became the chief estimator. W.W. Gay still lives in that first home he bought in Jacksonville, although few would recognize it today. He joined the Lakeshore Presbyterian Church.

In 1962, with Mr. Beckwith's full blessing, Bill opened W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractor, Inc. Today, W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractor employs over 800 people on a 52-week per year basis. On frequent special projects, the payroll swells to over 1200.

W.W. Gay, at age 72 is still the first one in the office in the morning, and often the last to leave at closing. He has slowed down a little, however, as currently he only works 5 1/2 days per week.

Leadership Though Integrity

But although his company's credits include so much of the Jacksonville landscape it would literally be impossible to list them here, the real story of W.W. Gay lies in his Christian approach to business and family life.

W.W. Gay is a private person who feels uncomfortable talking about his faith to strangers. He prefers that people see his belief in God, and reliance on Christian character traits, through his actions, not his words. Mike Hogan, former Jacksonville City Councilman, calls Bill "...a giant man in his home, his business, his church, his city. When I think of the person who is the most generous and unselfish giver I've ever met, only one person comes to mind - Mr. Bill Gay."

Those close to him will tell you that W.W. Gay feels responsible for all his employees. Decisions concerning the company are always made around what is best for the employees, and he always gives back more than what is required in his business and personal dealings. But, you do have to ask those around him, because W.W. doesn't feel he is doing anything extraordinary.

Outside the company, W.W. Gay supports causes with a Christ-centered mission. Prisoners of Christ, the Justice Coalition, Methodist Medical Center, and Presbyterian Retirement Communities of Florida are some of his favorites, and money is not the only support he gives. The knowledge gleaned from his years of experience in a wide variety of areas is given freely and cheerfully to those who ask. For example, he taught the plumbing apprenticeship program in Orlando in 1950. (His son, Bill, Jr., taught the same program in 1970)

In his family, W.W. Gay has encouraged his children to participate and excel in church activities as well as many other beneficial and worthwhile organizations.

W.W. Gay has exhibited a strong Christian work ethic all his life, believing from his heart that it is always best to do more than he is asked. His company has been cited, by a respected trade magazine, as one of the 10 largest and most successful mechanical contractors in the nation. He plans to continue that growth by recruiting and nurturing "the best employees in the business."

Leadership Training By Example

"I'll probably never be as productive as him. I am not a carbon copy, but I'm still trying."

So says Bill Gay, Jr. when asked about how people sometimes compare him with his father. Bill, Jr., born John William Gay, is Vice President of W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractor, Inc., and a true product of his Christian upbringing.

Bill Gay, Jr.'s first job on joining the company was Project Manager on the Original Prudential Building in Jacksonville. He has witnessed first-hand the results of doing business in a Christian way in an increasingly non-Christian world.

He has watched his father's company grow to one of the ten largest mechanical contractors in the nation, not by acquisition and stepping on people's rights, but through planned expansion, always with the employees in mind.

"Dad has taught me the importance of loyalty in business and in my personal life," says Bill as he watches Simon Smith walk down the hall. Simon is a lifelong friend of W.W. Gay, and a former Boy Scout Executive, whose anti-pornography organization maintains an office on the premises of W.W. Gay, Inc.

"Simon and Dad go way back, and, when he retired from the Boy Scouts and needed an office, there wasn't any doubt where he would wind up," says Bill. "That kind of loyalty is one of the greatest legacies Dad could have given me," he continues.

Another legacy given to Bill Gay, Jr. is the legacy of faith. Ask him what's important in his life and he will answer with his faith, his family, and his work, in that order.

Not one to blow his own horn, Bill Gay Jr. can be seen in the wings of important Christ-centered movements in Jacksonville with predictable regularity. A man with a reputation of staunch Christian principals, Bill carries his father's concern for others with him into the workplace, and into the neighborhood in which it is located.

Helping the Community

When the neighborhood around W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractor, Inc. began to deteriorate due to the omnipresence of drugs and alcohol, Bill's idea was to cover the windows so the employees wouldn't have to look at the squalor. He and his company then went on to make a difference in the area by beginning to acquire properties that had become a problem.

"That liquor store was one of the centers of human misery in our area," he explains, describing the notorious Little Brown Jug across the street from his office. "So we bought the place and gave notice we were going to close it down when the lease was up," he continues.

Today the Little Brown Jug is closed, and families throughout the neighborhood thank the new landlords who did it. Many other adjacent trouble spots have been purchased and turned into parking lots for employees, or, when possible, habitats for the less fortunate.

Giving back to the community is important to Bill Gay, Jr. He is making his own mark in the business world, and through his adherence to Christian principals, showing others it can be done the right way.

Doing things the right way is standard operating procedure at W.W. Gay. It is also a Christian family tradition.