 Don Gaetz attended Concordia College, graduating with his bachelor's degree in religion and political science, and then Troy State University, receiving his Master of Public Administration in education before moving to the state of Florida in 1978.He worked in Jacksonville as a hospital administrator, and lobbied the legislature to create hospice care programs for the dying.In 1983, Gaetz founded VITAS Healthcare Corporation with a group of investors, which he later sold for nearly half a billion dollars in 2004.