From his upbringing in Kent, Ohio to his later years building a billion-dollar real estate brokerage, Pete Dalton has never been afraid to take risks and bet on himself.
Dalton’s journey from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt was facilitated by the U.S. Navy. In 1966, while in college, a friend with a poor draft number convinced him to drop out and enlist. Asked if his family was supportive of his decision, Dalton chuckled.
“Not particularly,” said Dalton.
Dalton was stationed at Cecil Field and served four years, including a Vietnam cruise on the “USS Kitty Hawk” and a Mediterranean cruise aboard the “USS Saratoga,” both aircraft carriers. He worked as a fire control technician, maintaining radar and weapon systems for aircrafts.
“We worked 12-hour days, pretty much seven days a week,” said Dalton.
One of his most vivid memories came during the tense Pueblo Incident of 1968, when North Korea captured an American spy ship. Dalton and his shipmates were ordered to sail at flank speed from Hong Kong to waters off North Korea, where he and the nuclear weapons loading team stood on deck through the night, waiting for word from Washington.
When his service ended, Dalton planned to attend Tulane University. But a quirk of timing changed his life. The Navy offered a 90-day early release, but Dalton needed 93 days to start the fall semester. Denied the extra three days, he enrolled at Jacksonville University instead. He initially studied accounting but soon had a change of heart.
“If you graduated with an accounting degree, you made about $7,500 a year, and I thought I could do better than that without going to school,” said Dalton
He dropped out of college a second time and turned to real estate, first buying houses as a landlord, then earning his license and joining a firm on Cassat Avenue.
That decision launched a career spanning half a century. Dalton founded Vanguard Realty, eventually becoming the Coldwell Banker franchisee in Jacksonville. Today, Coldwell Banker Vanguard operates 10 offices, including eight in Jacksonville, and sells about a billion dollars in real estate annually.
It was through work that Dalton both met his wife Sandy and got his pilot’s license. Sandy was working for another real estate company when he attempted to hire her; she turned him down, but the two eventually started dating.
Sandy wanted to get married, but Dalton dragged his feet, and finally she got fed up: Dalton came home one day to find her and all her possessions gone; she had up and left without even leaving a note. Distraught, Dalton decided he was going to get his pilot’s license so he could take girls to the Bahamas. Except that didn’t happen.
“After getting my license, I never took a girl to the Bahamas. However, I did chase that girl down, and I married her 40 years ago,” said Dalton of how he finally married his wife.
His pilot’s license came in handy when Dalton bought real estate offices in the Florida Keys. Aside from flying his Aerostar, his other hobbies include cycling about 100 miles a week and traveling. Dalton and his wife have visited most European countries, with Italy a favorite, and often spend time in New Orleans and Key West. He says they are “situational travelers” who just enjoy soaking up the culture rather than visiting sightseeing destinations.
“I’ve seen enough castles and churches,” said Dalton. “We just sort of find someplace we’re comfortable with and spend some time there.”
Home is in Venetia, where Dalton and his wife live in a distinctive courtyard-style house. Ironically, he discovered it during an open house – a practice he had long dismissed as a waste of time.
Looking back, Dalton contrasts the Jacksonville of today with the city he first came to in the early 1970s.
“Back then, Jacksonville was a big town. Now it’s a small city,” he said. “Almost everything has changed – from Downtown to the suburbs, the football team, the restaurants.”
As for his hometown of Kent, Dalton remembers the small-town rhythms of his youth – burning leaves in the fall, hayrides, ice skating, newspaper routes – but doesn’t regret leaving.
“Small towns look nice in Norman Rockwell covers on the ‘Saturday Evening Post’ …[but] they sort of get stale,” explained Dalton. “I prefer to be where there’s more activity. Jacksonville is vibrant.”
