lit a candle 23 Sept 2026Only heard about the Golden Fleece Foundation last year, reading about Keys schools online, and wished I'd known sooner. 89 years old and still meeting students on a Sunday. That's the part that gets me.
Their story
John Richard Padget was an international businessman turned Florida Keys philanthropist and education advocate whose money and time reshaped opportunities for generations of Monroe County students. He was born on January 28, 1937, in Tully, New York, and built a career in business, including ventures in Europe such as one-hour…
John Richard Padget was an international businessman turned Florida Keys philanthropist and education advocate whose money and time reshaped opportunities for generations of Monroe County students. He was born on January 28, 1937, in Tully, New York, and built a career in business, including ventures in Europe such as one-hour photo booths, car rental and cosmetics, before settling in Key West, where he became one of the most consequential civic figures in the Keys.
In Florida, Padget moved from business into public service and philanthropy. He was involved with Monroe County's schools and later served as vice chairman of the Florida State Board of Education. He helped launch the Take Stock in Children scholarship and mentoring program in Monroe County and led the Golden Fleece Foundation, which for years funded incentive programs in the county's schools, including information technology certification pathways, auto and marine mechanics training, and initiatives aimed at increasing the number of Black educators in Monroe County classrooms. He served as President Emeritus of the Monroe County Education Foundation, was a trustee of the LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State University, a board member of the Askew Institute at the University of Florida, and a commissioner of the Lower Florida Keys Hospital District.
Padget's philanthropy was not attached to a single building or named institution. Instead it showed up in scholarship contracts, mentoring relationships, technology classes, certification exams, automotive programs, and the checks and gift cards that rewarded students who met their goals. In 2017 the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys named him the inaugural individual recipient of its Partners in Paradise Award, recognizing decades of work as an entrepreneur, education advocate and philanthropist that had significantly affected the Keys.
For decades Padget's life and philanthropic work were closely tied to Jacob "Jaap" Dekker, described as his lifelong partner, with whom he had built businesses in Europe before both became fixtures of Key West's philanthropic community. Dekker died in 2019, and Padget continued the couple's education-focused giving in the years that followed, most recently through the Golden Fleece Foundation's continuing partnership with Monroe County schools.
Padget died on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at Lower Keys Regional Medical Center in the Florida Keys, following a massive heart attack. He was 89, four months shy of what would have been his 90th birthday. Long-time friend and fellow philanthropist Bryan Green was at his side. According to Green, Padget had spent the Sunday before his death in Marathon, meeting with Take Stock in Children students who had just returned from overseas study trips funded by his foundation. No funeral or memorial arrangements had been announced as of this writing.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Keys Weekly Newspapers.
he really did that, my daughter was one of the Take Stock kids he talked to that week