Gloria Tate's Cape Coral roots run deep. One of the city's pioneer families, her parents settled in the city during Hurricane Donna in 1960, when Tate was 9 years old. That was just two years after Leonard and Jack Rosen began turning 103 square miles into a city of canals.

Her mother, Grace Raso, started the Italian American Club, which Tate's sister Cathy now runs. And her father, Joseph Raso, started the family business: Raso Realty. “We’re pretty much rooted here, as far as we can go,” Tate said. “You can’t go anywhere without thinking of something that my mom and dad had a hand in.”