A few made their name in the sports world, including one of only five golfers to achieve the Career Grand Slam.
Some gained international fame in other professions, including one who performed alongside a musician who was once a member of The Beatles.
They're buried throughout Southwest Florida, and while they're not all from Florida, they ended up in the state permanently.
Here's a few famous people buried in Collier and Lee counties.
LEE COUNTY
LPGA co-founder, champion golfer Patty Berg
Patty Berg was a pioneer, helping to form the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) and was its president from 1950 to 1952.
The Minnesota native ― who died in Fort Myers in 2006 ― won more than 60 tournaments, including 15 majors. She won the inaugural U.S. Women's Open in 1946.
Berg, who died at age 88, is buried at Fort Myers Memorial Gardens.
World War I Medal of Honor recipient Cpl. Samuel M. Sampler
Samuel M. Sampler was born in a small Texas town and his heroics gained international fame.
His Army company was attacked near Saint-Étienne-à-Arnes, France, in October 1918 when he single-handedly took on a German machine gun nest, charging the enemy with hand grenades.
The action left two German soldiers dead and 28 captured. In 1919, he was awarded the Medal of Honor ― the U.S. Armed Forces' highest military decoration.
"As a result of his act the company was immediately enabled to resume the advance," the medal citation reads.
Sampler wed Rosina in Oklahoma after his discharge and the couple moved to her native Philadelphia, where they raised their two children.
Samuel Sampler worked at the Naval Supply Depot in Philadelphia before retiring in Fort Myers, where he died in 1979 at age 84. He's buried at Fort Myers Memorial Gardens.
Edgar 'Bloody' Watson, Western outlaw, buried in Fort Myers
They say Florida is a place where people go if they're running away from something.
Maybe that's true, but it could especially apply to the Ten Thousand Islands in Southwest Florida. The mangrove islets have attracted their share of characters and perhaps the best known of them all was Edgar "Bloody" Watson.
Watson died in 1910 when Chokoloskee residents riddled his body with 33 bullets. There's various versions to explain why they did it.
Watson purportedly hired "outlanders" to work the plantation, and the Collier County News in 1954 reported that "people who worked for Watson disappeared soon after asking for their pay."
Some would later say that led to the demise of Watson, who many suspected had killed others. Waton ended up in the Chokoloskee area in the early 1880s. He arrived from Columbia County in northern Florida, and before that he was suspected of killing outlaw Belle Starr in American Indian territory in Oklahoma.
He then returned to Florida and killed a man in Arcadia, apparently in self-defense. Later, Watson — while in Key West for an auction — slit the throat of a man who survived the attack. Watson later was suspected of killing two men he said were "squatting" on his land when they refused to leave.
Chokoloskee residents appeared to have had enough of Watson when they gunned him down in 1910 at the historic Smalllwood Store.
Watson is buried at Fort Myers Cemetery.
COLLIER COUNTY
Paul McCartney friend, Wings co-founder Denny Laine
Denny Laine called Naples home for a few years before he died late last year.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer died Dec. 5 in Naples and fans worldwide shared their love and remembrance for the musical great.
He was the founding guitarist and lead singer for The Moody Blues and later co-founder of Wings, along with friend and former Beatles' member Paul McCartney.
Laine was 79 when he died at Naples' NCH Baker Hospital and was buried in a small, private ceremony at North Naples' Palm Royale Funeral Home & Cemetery along Vanderbilt Beach Road.
Professional golfer, Masters champion Gene Sarazen
Born in Westchester County, New York, in 1902, Gene Sarazen became a legendary professional golfer and reached the top of his profession when he won the Masters in 1935.
Sarazen also is in elite company as one of five players to win four majors at least once, known as the Career Grand Slam (winning the Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Open Championship or British Open).
The other four to achieve this feat? Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Sarazen died at age 97 in 1999 and is buried at Marco Island Cemetery.
Jack Ramsay, longtime NBA coach, commentator
Jack Ramsay grew up near Philadelphia and achieved fame mainly as a basketball coach. And in 1977, he helped guide the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA championship.
Outlaws to outcasts:Infamous people buried in Florida include Watergate burglars
In later years, he became a popular broadcaster for NBA games and eventually was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He retired to Naples and died there in 2014, with his burial at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Cemetery in North Naples.
Dave Osborn is the regional features editor of the Naples Daily News and News-Press. Follow him on Instagram and Threads @lacrossewriter and on X (formerly Twitter) @NDN_dosborn.
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