TRIBUTE TO BUD ADAMS — 1926-2017
Fort Pierce cattleman taught conservation
of his beloved land through example
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In the last half-century on the Treasure Coast, nobody was
more liked, more loved, better known or more respected
than Alto Lee Adams Jr.
Adams, 91, died Sept. 22 surrounded by family in the
modest cypress home he built on Adams Ranch west of Fort
Pierce for his bride in 1949. Until a stroke a week before he
died, he continued to drive himself around the ranch that he
spent 80 years tending and protecting.
Adams helped grow a modest operation his father bought
in 1937 into Adams Ranch Inc., an enterprise that today
consists of 50,000 acres in St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Osceola
and Madison counties. At his home ranch in Fort Pierce, he
hosted governors and senators, U.S. Supreme Court justices,
movie stars and athletes — all falling under his charms as he
quietly pushed a gospel of conservation.
The story of Alto Lee Adams Jr., who invited everyone to
call him “Bud,” is so much more than that of a homegrown
Fort Pierce cattleman, who became one of the most successful
ranchers in America. That in itself would be enough to talk
about for years to come, the way he used his know-how in
genetics to create two superior breeds of cattle: the Braford
and ABEEF.
But the reach of Adams’ enduring fame goes much farther
than the big circles of the nation’s cattle industry. That’s
because of his other career — the one for which he didn’t get
paid: teaching Floridians how to be good stewards of the earth.
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Bud and sister, Elaine, stand at the cow pens of their father’s recently
purchased ranch west of Fort Pierce in 1937.
Bud Talks to grandson Sam Adams,
son of Robbie Adams, at the “dog
house,’’ one of the early Florida
replica houses he had built at the
ranch. The photo was taken in 2006.
ROBERT ADAMS