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Sarasota News Leader December 7, 2012 Page 56 RINGLING MUSEUM CURATORS TO DISCUSS LIFE OF CHARLES RINGLING Two curators from the Ringling Museums, Ron McCarty (Ca' d'Zan) and Deborah Walk (Circus Museum) will present an interactive talk about the life, times and influence of Charles Ringling on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. at the Crocker Memorial Church in Pioneer Park. The park is located at 1260 12th St., Sarasota. The program is free to members of the Historical Society of Sarasota County and $10 for the public. "In 1912, with the Ringling Bros. Circus in its heyday, Charles Ringling came to Sarasota to visit his more famous and flamboyant brother," John, in Sarasota, a Historical Society news release says. Subsequently, Charles and his wife, Edith, "fell in love with the town, moved into a house" and in 1925 built a Georgian pink marble mansion on 40 bayfront acres just north of John's home, the Deborah Walk/Contributed release adds. Eventually, the Charles Ringling mansion became the centerpiece of the New College bayfront campus as the school's first library. Today it is called College Hall. While in Sarasota, Charles Ringling purchased land and donated significant parcels to the newly created county, the news release notes. He owned 52 commercial lots and a 33,000acre ranch, and he developed the 10-story Sarasota Terrace Hotel and 150 Spanish-style homes. Additionally, he founded the Ringling Bank and donated land for a courthouse for the newly created Sarasota County. Ringling Boulevard, the street between the courthouse and his hotel, was named for him, the news release adds. When Ringling died in 1926 in Sarasota at the age of 63, he was a working president of the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. Ron McCarty/Contributed