All-Time Influential - Harold A. Ward III Retired Attorney, Winderweedle, Haines, Ward & Woodman, P.A. Harold Ward—the city’s iconic father figure—is among the last of those who can trace their civic lineages to the origin of “modern” Winter Park. A retired attorney, Ward’s best-known clients included the Charles Hosmer Morse Foundation, which owns The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, and the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation, which, among other charitable activities, helps to support the museum. Ward remains chair of these historically important foundations, which were begun by Rollins College President Hugh F. McKean and his wife, Jeannette Genius McKean. (Jeannette was the granddaughter of Morse and the daughter of Elizabeth Morse Genius.) Industrialist Morse, you’ll recall, bought half the property in the city from the failing Winter Park Company in 1904 and hired Ward’s grandfather, Harold A. “Harley” Ward Sr., to run a new entity, the Winter Park Land Company, which developed the genteel community to his exacting standards. The younger Ward—who earned his law degree from the University of Chicago and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black—continues to quietly nurture worthy local causes. He has served for 42 years (and is a four-time chair) of the board of trustees at Rollins and was previously a trustee and attorney of record for Winter Park Memorial Hospital (now AdventHealth Winter Park). He became the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce’s only two-term president in 1971 and 1972 as well as its Citizen of the Year in 1999. Rollins presented him with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1986 and its Decoration of Honor in 1998. In addition, Ward was an honoree at the Winter Park Historical Association’s Peacock Ball (along with fellow attorney Kenneth Murrah) in 2009. Another notable success story: Ward’s 66-year marriage to Mary Lewis “Libby” Ward, who passed away in 2024. #winterparkmagazine #mostinfluential #winterpark