Many Key residents recall the first time they travelled over the Rickenbacker Causeway to visit our island paradise. They speak in glowing terms of smelling the salt air, viewing the Miami skyline from the bridge, and driving through Crandon Park\u2019s lush tropical forest to emerge at the Key Biscayne sign welcoming them to the community.<\/p>\n
Longtime resident Mark Fried doesn\u2019t share that memory. In fact, he doesn\u2019t remember much of anything about his first years on the Key, for he was only two days old when his parents, Mort and Joy Fried, carried him home from Doctors Hospital. The Frieds, who bought a house on Allendale in 1951, were among the first 100 families to settle on the island after construction of the causeway was complete. They later built a new home on Harbor Court.<\/p>\n
Mark attended what was then the Key Biscayne Elementary School and still remembers all his teachers\u2019 names. His granddaughter Alice is now the third Fried generation to attend the school.<\/p>\n
It was during elementary school that he developed a close friendship with Alberto Jauregui. Alberto\u2019s family was Cuban, and Mark recalls playing at his house after school one day and being invited to stay for dinner. \u201cThe dining table was dressed out with linen and silver utensils brought from Cuba. And the aroma of roast pork and black beans and rice\u2026 wow!\u201d He called home to learn that his own mother was preparing spaghetti and meatballs. That settled it \u2014 he would dine with the Jaureguis that evening. Later Alberto would show up at Mark\u2019s house on Saturday mornings for bagels, lox, and cream cheese. Mark and Alberto went on to become college roommates and served as best man at each other\u2019s weddings.<\/p>\n
Mark reflects that life on the Key was different back then.<\/p>\n
“Everybody knew everybody. And none of the houses had fences or hedges or walls. To get to a friend\u2019s house, you\u2019d just cut through other people\u2019s yards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing up on the water, Mark always knew he wanted to own a boat. When he was just ten, his father bought a 15-foot outboard for Mark to share with his older brother, Scott. He currently owns a classic 19-foot Donzi St. Tropez, named \u201cGail Force\u201d after his wife. \u201cIt\u2019s my favorite,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Like his father before him, Mark attended the University of Miami Law School and developed a thriving legal practice, in the field of employment-based immigration law. His son, Matt, now carries on that tradition as well.<\/p>\n
Mark enjoys water skiing and stays in great shape by keeping active. \u201cI ride my bicycle and do something physical probably 25 days a month,\u201d he says. \u201cWell, even if it’s mowing the lawn or gardening or whatever, I’m doing something a lot. It’s also for my mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from staying active, his primary focus these days is on helping other people achieve their goals. Through the Rotary Club, he has partnered with organizations in Coconut Grove and Liberty City, delivering books to underprivileged students and setting up mentoring programs.<\/p>\n
Mark and his wife, Gail, are the proud parents of three grown children and five grandchildren. He adores living on Key Biscayne and wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything. \u201cI hope to live here for the rest of my life. I\u2019ll be fortunate to have a full chapter here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many Key residents recall the first time they travelled over the Rickenbacker Causeway to visit our island paradise.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[150398,126,54186,71308,135087,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-372336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-gail-fried","tag-key-biscayne","tag-lighter-side","tag-local-people","tag-mark-fried","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}