*I saw this simple book of matches on the auction, Fide et Opera got my attention, not knowing what it meant I had to look it up! Reading ” MacArthur ran his billion dollar empire from a booth in the Colonnades Hotel’s coffee shop,” is so intriguing!!
“Fide et Opera”: the latin is also sometimes translated as simply “faith and work.”
John D. MacArthur, born in poverty as the son of a preacher, became one of the greatest financiers of his day through the building of Chicago’s Banker’s Life and Casualty Insurance Company. By purchasing over 100,000 acres in this part of Palm Beach County, MacArthur became the largest landowner in the area. In 1976 he suffered a stroke and died 14 months later in the hotel. The hotel was razed in 1990 and the Marriott Corporation began construction of its time share resort, Marriott’s Ocean Pointe Resort, on the land.
MacArthur also owned many acres on the north end of Singer Island and he donated a large section of that land for a state park. The MacArthur Beach State Park opened in 1989 and his foundation provides funds to improve the facilities.
http://www.onlineauction.com/auction/2065023/Vintage-Matchbook-Colonnades-Beach-Hotel-Singer-Island-Fl.
* note A similar crest and motto was on the cover of printed copies of Ben Hecht’s eulogy for Charles MacArthur.
http://www.singerisland.com/history.html
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