Gary L. Lange

Gary Lange, 75, of Lake Mary, Florida, passed away on July 21st, 2025 unexpectedly, but peacefully in his home, in his favorite chair. Gary was born on December 15th, 1949, to Gilbert and Olga Lange in San Angelo, TX. After graduating from Price College (now Alamo Catholic High School) in 1968, he went on to study architecture at Texas Tech. He had a love and appreciation for design but his passion for engineering drove his ambition to not only create projects that were beautiful but also practical, cost effective, that would ultimately benefit the community in multiple ways. His unique perspective was well before his time and would not fully be appreciated until later in his career.

During college, Gary held several jobs to cover tuition, he worked as a bus driver, bingo caller at his church, shoe shiner, he worked at the smelter plant, sold paint in a paint store, and even helped his father with the construction of St. Anne’s church in Stinnett, TX. After graduation, Gary landed a job as a Senior Draftsman for Mason & Hanger-Silas Mason, Co Inc, with the Pantex Plant, where he worked with them until 1977.

In early 1977, He first saw Susan when he came into the Pantex Credit Union where she worked as a teller. He started to frequent the credit union more often for the chance to see her again. He came in one day with an ice cream and Susan quickly corrected him that he could not come in with ice cream and not bring one for her. The next time he came in, he brought her ice cream. March 24th 1977, they both attended the Elvis Presley Concert, where Gary and his date sat a few rows back from Susan and her friend. It was at that concert, Gary knew Susan was the one. They went on their first date in April and on the second date knew that they had found their other half. They spent as much time together as they could until Gary moved to Lexington, KY in July of 1977. He came back to Amarillo, TX in the fall and they wed on September 30, 1977. Susan then moved to Kentucky with Gary and there, they started their family, blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Kristin in 1979. They then moved to Noblesville, IN in 1980, and 2 years later they were blessed again with their second daughter, Lisa.

Gary was a devoted Catholic, a problem solver, mentor and everything he did, he went in with the intention of helping to make things better. He loved and worked hard to provide for his family to give them the life he felt they deserved. His work kept him busy and had him traveling often, even relocating every couple of years at the beginning of his career.

While in Kentucky he was the Assistant Project Manager for the construction of the Kincaid Towers office building, made famous as it was featured in a stunt in the move “Steel” filmed in 1979. After their stint in Indiana where he was the Project Engineer for the construction of St. Vincint’s Hospital, Gary took on a position (Director of Operations) with FRU-CON Construction Corporation in St. Louis, MO. He worked on a project with the Deconess Hospital, and the Jackson Madison County General Hospital in TN. He then started a company with John Sears to create Project Development Management, Inc in 1986 and relocated to St. Petersburg Florda, here he served as Vice President, then President specializing in hotels and commercial projects. This was his family’s first stay in Florida.

In 1987 he signed on with 3D-International as a Project Manager for the Providence Hospital and the family moved to Waco, Texas. This became a joint venture with Ellerbe Becket which then moved the family to Maryland in 1989 where Gary was the Vice President for the East Region Design/Build Office, his projects centered around various hospitals around the D.C area including Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 1987 he took on the role of Project Manager for Landmark Contract Management (subsidiary of Ellerbe Becket) and the family moved back to St. Louis. It was here that Gary began work involving building and renovating schools in various districts around St. Louis. His work in K-12 Operations continued as a VP Operations Officer for Jacobs Engineering from 1993-2001 where he led what was one of his most crowning achievements, completing a $90 Million at risk program of 34 projects for the Okaloosa County School Program in Fort Walton Beach, FL. He was able to work on this project from start to finish, build his team, and they completed the project a year ahead of schedule and $9 Million under budget. During his tenure, he worked on K-12 projects in Los Angeles, Baton Rouge, Austin, in addition to various projects throughout Missouri. He moved to 3-D International/Parsons in 2001 as VP of National K-12 Operations and worked on various projects, most notably for the Newark, NJ Schools program and the Advent Health Hospital in Ormond Beach, FL.

In 2009 he continued with Parsons but took on one of the biggest challenges of his life; his career and work went globally. Gary became the Design Director for Parsons projects in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He lived in Dubai for two years working on various projects, taking the opportunity to explore the culture and travel to the surrounding countries. He loved his time in Dubai and loved to share his experiences with friends, family and acquaintances. After 2 years in Abu Dhabi, he moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a year and a half, and then finished his time in the middle east with a project for the American School of Doha in Qatar in 2013. He completed that project in Doha and returned to his family in Lake Mary, Florida February of 2017 for retirement.

Gary came home to his loving wife Susan, his eldest Kristin and her husband Richard, his grandson Ryker, and his youngest, Lisa and her son Garrett. He traded in his job titles in for his favorite title; Papa, his building materials changed to Lego’s and his projects became showing his grandsons anything and everything. His family meant more to him than anything else in the world, he cherished this time he spent with his grandsons even if it was to chauffeur them to and from school or to their extra curricular activities. He was so proud of the young men they are becoming, and the family was blessed to have been able to have him so active in their lives.

Through his grandsons’ activities, Gary touched many lives at their school and church, with the scouts, through outside activities the boys were involved in; he always had a smile on his face, joy in his heart and a desire to serve and help. He was always the first to offer his seat, offer water, hold open doors, and help anyway necessary, and always with his beautiful smile. A trait that has passed down to his grandsons.

Another trait that was passed down was his strong work ethic. He was incredibly proud of his daughters Kristin and Lisa and their accomplishments in their careers. Although both girls did not start out with aspirations for project management, both Kristin and Lisa have followed in his footsteps in their respective industries. Gary loved to share his knowledge and expertise not only as their father but also as a mentor.

His family meant more to him than anything else in the world, and he would do anything for them at any time.

In his retirement Gary enjoyed collecting coins, and daily runs to Sam’s, Costco, BJ’s and Walmart. He loved it when the girls or his grandsons came to him with a project idea, as he loved collecting items he could either fix or use for parts to fix things and anything that involved power tools and engineering. He loved to teach his grandsons about science, engineering, space, nature and stocks. He enjoyed photography and bike rides. He enjoyed being by the water, be it by boat or fishing with his grandsons, many of his most memorable times were on float trips and fishing excursions with the family. He loved to share his experiences in the middle east and would often reminisce about the many projects he worked on throughout his career.

Anyone who knew Gary knew that he was the most loving papa, father and husband a family could ask for. Gary was predeceased by Gilbert and Olga Lange. Gary is survived by Susan Lange, Kristin Fortin, Ryker Fortin, Lisa Lange, Garrett Lange, Alan Spolnicki (s), Gwen Gable, Leon Lange, Mike Lange, Joann Moore, Janell Terry

A visitation for Gary will be held Tuesday, July 1, 2025 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, with Rosary from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM, at Baldwin Fairchild Oaklawn Chapel 5000 County Rd 46A, Sanford FL 32771. A visitation will occur Wednesday, July 2, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 1:00pm at Baldwin Fairchild Oaklawn Chapel . A funeral service will occur Wednesday, July 2, 2025 AT 2PM at Annunciation Catholic Church 1020 Montgomery Rd. Altamonte Springs, FL 32714

In Lieu of flowers donations may be made to Cure Alzheimers.org 34 Washington St., Suite 230 Wellesley Hills, MA 02481. Or Tunnel to Towers foundation 2361 Hylan Blvd., Staten Island, NY 10306