NSU Celebrates Legacy of Carl DeSantis at Anniversary Event

The H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship paid a special tribute on Dec. 16 to the late Carl DeSantis during a 20^th anniversary celebration of the Nova Southeastern University building named in his honor.

For more than two decades, DeSantis was instrumental in moving NSU forward as a highly respected higher education institution when it comes to educating future business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Born in Massachusetts and raised in Florida, DeSantis was a lifelong entrepreneur with a natural flair for business and marketing. He launched Sundown Vitamins in his garage and built it from a mail order company into the world’s largest vitamin manufacturer. The company would later become Rexall Sundown, growing into a Fortune 100 company while revolutionizing the health supplements industry.

In 2000, Rexall Sundown was sold for $1.8 billion. DeSantis immediately began to invest in—and pioneer—a series of companies while also continuing to be a passionate philanthropist. DeSantis was inducted into NSU’s Entrepreneur and Business Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2002, DeSantis pledged a leading gift to the campaign to relocate NSU’s business college from a small off-site space to a 261,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility on the NSU Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus. In January 2004, the Carl DeSantis Building was opened as the home of the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship (HCBE).

Among those on hand for the anniversary celebration were HCBE Dean Andrew Rosman, NSU President George L. Hanbury II, Provost Ronald J. Chenail, Dean Emeritus Randy Pohlman, Carl’s son Damon, Carl’s daughter Debbie, event co-chair Arlene Pecora of the Signature Grand, and Jeff Perlman of CDS International Holdings.

Posted 01/14/24