Thomas Rive McGehee, Sr. (12 July 1924 – 6 August 2002) was a Jacksonville, Florida, business and civic leader who served on the boards of over twenty entities and founded the charity, Dreams Come True.
As of 2006, the firm recorded sales in excess of $500 million, employed 950 people and was one of the 50 largest private companies in the Greater Jacksonville Metropolitan Area.
[1] In 1996, McGehee and his wife made a $1 million gift to the University of Florida veterinary school to build an Equine Reproduction Facility which was named in honor of their daughter Dede, a veterinarian and UF alumnae.
[7] Tom McGehee, along with J.J. Daniel, Robert Feagin, and Laurence Lee, Jr. started the Greater Jacksonville Area Community foundation in May 1964 as "a depository for the people of Jacksonville – both the large and small – the wealthy and the moderate, to be able to give for the betterment of their fellow man, not just today, but in a continuing way, through the principles of a foundation, for years to come", wrote McGehee.
Lee's dream was to play with golfer Fred Couples, and McGehee and his wife, Delia, arranged to fulfill George's wish.
McGehee presented the idea of a non-profit group that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses to several local business leaders who supported the concept, and Dreams Come True (DCT) was created.
[10] At the time, McGehee owned television station channel 47, and the charity began work in an empty office there, but grew.