A successful businessman, Mote’s gifts founded the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. He had a lifelong love of fishing and the sea. He received the 1994 International Oceanographic Foundation’s Gold Medal Award for a “nonprofessional who has done the most in the past year to promote the study of the sea”. In addition, he founded the Mote Vascular Foundation in support of efforts to diagnose, prevent and treat vascular disorders.