![\"Flowers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2156656181-e1753947695273.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Flowers beside the 17th green during day two of the Costa Navarino Legends Tour Trophy at the International Olympic Academy Golf Course on June 08, 2024.<\/p>\n
In an extraordinary tribute<\/a> to the man who built the modern community of Aventura, real estate icon Donald M. Soffer\u2013who convened South Florida swampland into one of the region\u2019s most prominent cities\u2013is set to be buried<\/a> at his beloved Turnberry Isle Country Club<\/a>, right near the tee of the 18th hole. The announcement was made following his death at age 92 on July\u202f20,\u202f2025, and has captured the attention of both local residents and golf fans alike<\/p>\n Under Florida law<\/a>, private-property burials of less than two acres are permitted\u2013meaning that Soffer\u2019s final resting place falls within the legal bounds of his own Turnberry estate. To many, this feels fitting: there\u2019s no place more intimately tied to his legacy than the golf course where he staked so much of his vision. What began as undeveloped wetlands in the late 1960s became home to a world-class golf destination, a residential master plan, and eventually the city of Aventura.<\/p>\n A Legacy Built Hole by Hole<\/p>\n The Turnberry golf course, designed by famed architect Robert Trent Jones, was among the first signature features<\/a> Soffer added to the Aventura project in the early 1970s. Well before residential towers or Aventura Mall came to life, Soffer placed the 18th green as a focal point\u2013not just for the course itself but also as a symbolic capstone to his unfolding development plan.<\/p>\n Today, that same 18th tee will serve as Soffer\u2019s permanent memorial<\/a>. Local residents quoted in reports expressed surprise and poignancy: one resident, Lee Harris, shared, \u201cIt\u2019s kind of weird \u2026 I didn\u2019t know people could get buried at a golf course.\u201d Others, like Aventura native Camila Miranda, saw beauty in the decision: \u201cThat sounds appropriate, because he loved this community.\u201d<\/p>\n Sports, Vision, and Community<\/p>\n Soffer wasn\u2019t only a developer\u2014he was a former Brandeis University football player on scholarship, a U.S. Army veteran, and the son of a Pittsburgh-based real estate family that played a major role in suburban development. Before Aventura, his work included projects like South Hills Village mall near Pittsburgh, and later the creation of Aventura Mall in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n His brand of development<\/a> crafted not just streets and buildings, but habits and leisure. The golf course became a community hub for locals and one of the most prestigious signature courses in South Florida. It remains a testament to his idea of combining upscale recreation with master-planned living.<\/p>\n Community Responses and Reactions<\/p>\n The City of Aventura, which formally incorporated in 1995, now refers to Soffer as its \u201cgodfather.\u201d Local officials and civic institutions offered heartfelt condolences upon learning of his death. The city\u2019s high school, cultural programs, and local real estate identity all bear Soffer\u2019s imprint.<\/p>\n The public reaction to his burial plan<\/a> has been mixed, though more reflective than contentious. For golfers planning their rounds, the scheduled unveiling didn\u2019t deter play, but one golfer, Eric Harris, joked he would tip his cap to the 18th hole in August: \u201cI\u2019m going to find the 18th hole, give him a little salute and hope my ball finds the hole.\u201d<\/p>\n Burying someone at a golf course may seem unusual, but in this case it merges sport, place, and legacy in a singularly meaningful way. For Soffer, golf wasn\u2019t just a recreational pastime\u2013it was a design principle that anchored the entire Aventura concept. The decision underscores how developers can use sports venues to frame an entire city\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n While most athletes and sports personalities receive posthumous recognition in trophy rooms, stadiums, or plaques, Soffer\u2019s tribute is \u2026 unique.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAlyssa Polczynski<\/a> Alyssa Polczynski is a multimedia journalist covering Major League Baseball for Heavy.com. She has experience as an editorial producer for MLB.com and contributed to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). More about Alyssa Polczynski<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Golf\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Flowers beside the 17th green during day two of the Costa Navarino Legends Tour Trophy at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-36421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}