WOOD JAMES (JIM) DREWERY, III, owner of Antique Paradise and a longtime fix- ture and friend of South Miami mer- chants and residents died July 10, 2002, in Clearwater, Florida, after a hard- fought 2 year battle with kidney cancer. Jim was born, May 9, 1930, in Detroit Michigan, where he lived until coming to Miami in 1948, to attend University of Miami. After graduating in 1951, he briefly returned to Detroit where he was employed as the youngest chief clerk of a railroad in the US. Upon moving back to Miami, he was employed by the Howard Johnson chain of restuarants, managing both the Coral Gables and downtown Miami locations simultaneously. Later, while hoping to change careers, Jim decided to try his hand in banking. He walked into the Florida National Bank on Miracle Mile, in Coral Gables, and asked to talk to the person in charge of hiring. When told that the bank had no positions available, he reponded, 'Good'. Puzzled, the bank officer asked why that was good, and Jim responded that this way, they could train him, and when a position becomes available, he would be ready to step right in. Jim was hired that day. Later he became Cashier for Guaranty Bank on Bird Road, where he remained until the bank was sold, and, as he put it, a new broom sweeps clean, he was forced into early retirement. Thrilled by the prospect of taking some time off, he was quickly brought back to reality when, upon receiving his first pension check, he was stunned to find that the amount he had negotiated was a per month sum, not a weekly one. To help him out of this situation, friends encouraged Jim to help them with their antique and flea market business. This lead to Jim establishing his business, Antique Paradise, in 1974. In 1983, he decided to consolidate his three locations into one. The expansion of his store at 5828 Sunset Drive, in Downtown South Miami, was barely opened one month, when a fire on December 3, 1983 destroyed one full block of the Sunset Drive, including his business and most of his inventory. After another lengthy rebuild, and the endless help of his many friends, he reopened and maintained his business until June 1991, when he decided to retire. Prior to his retirement, Jim was active in numerous boards and committees with the City of South Miami, as well as a tireless promoter of the Downtown Merchants Association. His love of the downtown area could be seen through his support of the numerous annual special events, as well as his role in helping to develop the South Miami Arts and Crafts Festival and remaining their major sponsor until his retirement. In 1993, Jim and his partner Henry, moved to Clearwater Beach to care for his ailing mother. After her death in 1994, Jim continued his new-found love of traveling, and in 2000, it took him to Ajijic, Mexico. While there, he became enthralled with the small village, the lake, and the mountains, and bought a house. During the next year and a half, he traveled there often to oversee construction, in between lengthy periods of cancer treatment. The home was completed in February 2002, and Jim was able to spend seven weeks there prior to his death. Jim will be remembered for his wit, his humor, his love of, and loyalty to, friends and family, and his incredibly creative business sense. Jim is survived by his partner, Henry Haddock, Clearwater Beach; step brother, Peter Vandore, Philadelphia, PA; aunt, Mary Wood, Boca Raton; cousins, Tom Jones & Family, Waterford, Michigan; Carol Crist & Family, Houston, Texas; Dottie Strong, Boca Raton; Bill Cave, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Ivan Mueller, Boca Raton; Family of his partner and many friends in Clear - water and South Miami, whom he considered his 'family by choice'. A memorial will be scheduled at a later date with information available on the memorial website, www.mem.com. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to Project Yes, 5275 Sunset Dr., S. Miami, FL 33143, a non-profit organization whose focus is the prevention, through education, of suicide in teens of all walks of life.