DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Daytona Beach's most renowned hotelier, Thomas William Staed, the chairman and chief executive of the family owned Staed Family Associates, died peacefully, in his sleep on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. He was 81 years old.
“He was very well respected throughout the country, not just in Daytona Beach,” Bob Davis, CEO & President of the Volusia County Hotel & Lodging Association, told Headline Surfer. “My phone just hasn’t stopped ringing.” Davis, who worked under Staed for eight years, described his mentor as “the hotelier’s hotelier." “He created more things in America and throughout the country for hospitality than anyone I know,” Davis explained.
“He was very well respected throughout the country, not just in Daytona Beach,” Bob Davis, CEO & President of the Volusia County Hotel & Lodging Association, shown at far left, told Headline Surfer, in remembrance of Tom Staed.
“My phone just hasn’t stopped ringing.” Davis, who worked under Staed for eight years, described his mentor as “the hotelier’s hotelier." “He created more things in America and throughout the country for hospitality than anyone I know,” Davis explained.
Staed began in the hotel industry through his father-in-law after going to school to become an attorney.
“He started off originally with a mom-and-pop hotel and worked his way up,” Davis said.
According to a profile posted in the Floridian View in 2011, Staed’s company owned many Volusia County beachside hotel properties until the late 1990s.
Staed was active in many organizations, including serving terms as president of the Volusia County Hotel & Lodging Association, the Florida Hotel & Motel Association and the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Staed also worked as president & chairman of Best Western International. But perhaps one of his biggest contributions, according to Davis, was partnering up with a close friend – then-Florida Governor Lawton Chiles – to create Visit Florida in 1996, the official tourism marketing corporation for the State of Florida.
“We never had that before,” Davis said.
Another thing Staed helped bring that Florida never had before: the bed tax, used in many forms since its inception to build and promote tourism in the state.
“He was the grand-daddy of the bed tax,” Davis said. “We were the only industry to ever go before the state legislature and tax ourselves. Opponents said we were crazy, we would drive tourism out of the state of Florida. Here we are, many moons later, practically leading the nation in tourism.”
Above all else, though, Davis said Staed should be best known for his humanitarianism, part of which included his stint as chairman of the Volusia-Flagler chapter of the United Way.
“Tom Stead was a tremendous donor to many charities,” Davis added. “He gave so much of his life to our Daytona Beach area and never asked for anything in return. He never wanted accolades, just did what was needed for our community.”
Staed served as an artillery coordinator during the Korean War and was honorably discharged as a Corporal. After the military he re-enrolled at Memphis State where he became Sports Editor of the school newspaper and annual, President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Social Fraternity, and member of ODK Leadership Fraternity. After graduating with a BA degree in Journalism and a Business minor, he entered Tulane University School of Law, New Orleans on a Regional Honor Scholarship. Tom was admitted to the Louisiana, Tennessee and Florida Bar Associations. Upon graduating in 1958, he practiced law in Lake Charles, Louisiana with a small firm and then as a staff attorney in the legal department of the California Company, a New Orleans- based subsidiary of Standard Oil of California.
While at Tulane, he met Barbara Dodd of Daytona Beach, a Sophie Newcomb student. In 1959, Tommy (as he was known back then) and Barbara married in Daytona Beach. Restless in his law profession and looking for a better location to raise a family, the couple moved to Daytona Beach for his first taste of the hotel business. A few years after the move, the hotel he was managing was sold and he went back to practicing law.
When Gary Cunningham invited him to become a partner in the gasoline and fuel oil distribution business, Staed invested in Cunningham Oil, which grew substantially in a few short years. After selling his shares, he bought his first of many old hotels.
Staed invested substantially in these properties which became successful in a very short time. He then began building new hotels. With eleven hotels to his name, Staed established a sales marketing and management company called Oceans Eleven Resorts. In 1999 he sold a number of his hotels, and founded Staed Family Associates, which currently oversees the family's two hotels, the Bahama House and the Best Western Plus Aku Tiki Inn as well as other assets.
Staed's commitment to the lodging industry made him a force to be reckoned with in the Florida tourism industry. He was particularly respected for the strong leadership and new direction he gave the Florida Hotel and Motel Association, of which he was a past director, vice president and president. He was the Florida Hotelier of the Year in 1982.
Staed was appointed the first chairman of Florida's Governor's Tourism Advisory Council and Visit Florida, Inc. He was elected president of Best Western International, Inc. and also assumed leadership positions in the American Hotel and Motel Association ultimately serving as chairman.
Locally, Staed led the Daytona Beach Hotel and Motel Association and was a past chairman and founding member of the Halifax Area Advertising Authority.
A charismatic figure, Staed had a life-long interest in politics and played a crucial role managing the successful campaigns of U.S. Senator and Governor Lawton Chiles, a good friend. Staed believed in the need for political involvement on every level. He was quoted in 1984, "I believe that government and its elected officials are supposed to look after the general interests of the entire population and not just the specific interests of any one segment."
Although his name will forever be associated with hotels in Daytona Beach, it was in his capacity as a philanthropist for which Staed has said he would like to be remembered.
Family was a big part of Staed's life. He often said that his Catholic faith had helped him cope with the death of his 10-year old daughter, Elise Monroe, in 1973. Staed is survived by his beloved wife and partner of over 53 years, Barbara Dodd Staed; and their three daughters, Blaine (Brian) Lansberry, Leslie (Mike) Bush and Whitney (Tomas) Bjonness; his grandchildren Hailey, Kelsey, Jackson, Brantley, Cameron and Liam; and his sister Norma Jean Hartnett.
In lieu of flowers, tax-deductible donations for the specific purpose of scholarships may be made to either Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Christian Brothers High School, 5900 Walnut Grove Road, Memphis, TN 38120-2174 or Boys & Girls Club of Volusia/Flagler Counties, 101 N. Woodland Blvd., Suite 400, DeLand, FL 32720. A funeral mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Basilica of St. Paul with Father Tim Daly as celebrant. Interment will follow at Hillside Cemetery in Ormond Beach. Staed's family will receive friends 1:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Basilica of St. Paul.