Local business icon M.G. "Bubber" Nelson dies

PANAMA CITY — M. G. “Bubber” Nelson, a businessman who was instrumental in attracting growth to Bay County, died Wednesday morning. He was 97.

“He was one of the last few Southern gentlemen, and I think anyone who knew him would tell you that,” his grandson S. Carey Scott said.

Nelson was born in Southport in 1914, but he grew up in Panama City with nine brothers and sisters, his family said. He received his nickname from his siblings, who had difficulty pronouncing “brother,” Scott said.

“We all were poor folks, but we didn’t know it until we were grown,” his lifelong friend Ellis Fowhand said. What the Nelson family always had plenty of was love, he said.

Fowhand recalls regular road trips the two would take to Tallahassee, where their sweethearts, Nelson’s future wife Bobbie and Fowhand’s future wife Phoebe, attended Florida State College for Women.

Nelson joined the family business, a Buick dealership, in the late 1930s, his nephew Mike Nelson said.

Mike Nelson worked with his uncle at the dealership for a number of years. Like many who lived through the Depression, the difficult economic times “made an impression on him. I don’t think he ever wanted to go through something like that again. He was there when you got to work and he was there when you left, always trying to do better.”

In the early- to mid-1950s, he also went into the banking business. He served as chairman of the Commercial Bank of Panama City, Commercial Bank of Lynn Haven and Commercial Bank of Springfield.

His work at the bank helped him create connections he used to benefit Bay County.

“When he got into the things he believed, he went looking for people who could help that dream or that plan to succeed,” said longtime friend Joe Tannehill, who said Nelson was the reason he moved his business Merrick Industries to Bay County in the early 1970s.

“He was in the banking business, but he lived to see Bay County get better, better opportunities for people, better jobs,” he said

Before there was the Florida Department of Transportation there was the road board; before there was the Economic Development Alliance there was the Team of 100; before there was the United Way there was the Community Chest; and Nelson was instrumental in all of them.

He was described as someone who did a lot of work outside the shine of the spotlight.

In industrial recruitment and economic development, “wherever he could lend his support, he was always there to try to help. It was very important to him,” Mike Nelson said.

He was also involved in trying to help make people’s lives better. Much of that work was done through his involvement with the Presbyterian Church.

“I looked at him in so many ways, and I never found him to be short in any of them,” Fowhand said.

His friends and family say he leaves behind a legacy that shows anyone can make a positive impact in the community.

“Bubber Nelson is an icon whose name will be on the lips of the people and in the hearts and minds of the people of Panama City and Bay County for many, many years to come,” said George Gainer, who has known Nelson his entire life.

“His word was his bond, and he lived and operated in a time where he would give you his word, he would take you at your word and the rest was just incidental. He helped a lot of people in Bay County. He introduced aggressive banking in Bay County, and he will be fondly remembered by anybody who ever came in any kind of contact with him.”

Funeral arrangements have not been set.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

Longtime Bay County businessman, philanthropist and local icon M.G. "Bubber" Nelson passed away this morning. He was 97.

Nelson's name is a familiar one to residents here as he was active both in the business community and with just about anyone who crossed his path.

Among other things, Nelson donated the land on which the Bay School District's "Nelson Building" now stands; was chairman emeritus of SunTrust Bank following a long banking career and his father, Frank Nelson Sr., started a Buick franchise here nearly 100 years ago.

The senior Nelson added a Chevrolet dealership in 1931 and operated it alone until 1937 when his son joined him. M.G. Nelson took over when his father died.

Nelson also was the first campaign chairman for the United Way of Northwest Florida in 1957.

The News Herald will update this story later today and a full version will appear in Thursday's News Herald.

We encourage you to share your thoughts and/or memories of Nelson with us.