Nelson Boice left his footprint on Central Florida when, in the mid-1960s, his real-estate brokerage assembled the 27,000 acres that became Walt Disney World.

As co-founder of Florida Ranch Lands, Boice acted as the middleman between landowners and Disney. With his partner, Craig Linton Sr., he also helped orchestrate some of the region’s largest residential developments, from Deltona to Isleworth.

“Their fingerprints were all over the growth and changes in Central Florida, and Nelson clearly had a very innovative mind and was very instrumental in structuring complicated transactions,” said Linton’s son, Craig Jr.

Boice died Sunday at his home in Maitland from natural causes. He was 88.

Born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1921, he moved with his parents in 1923 to the Miami area, where a passion for the outdoors began after a childhood trip through the Everglades.

Boice hunted, fished and traveled throughout his life.

In the early 1940s, he attended Yale University, where he received a degree in engineering.

And years before he began making major real-estate transactions, he impressed a young Suzanne Harbert, who attended nearby Connecticut College, with something different: his yellow Packard convertible with red-leather seats.

“He wooed her with his car,” said Boice’s granddaughter, Aubrey Phillips of Charlottesville, Va. The couple wed April 11, 1943, and went on to share 66 yearsof adventures, from South America to Alaska.

During World War II, Boice served in the U.S. Army Air Forces.He and his wife later moved to Central Florida, where they settled in Maitland. They had one daughter, Suzanne “Smokey,” who died in 2004.

Boice’s friendship with Craig Linton Sr. led to the founding of Florida Ranch Lands in 1954.

The two men helped make history with their secret Disney land deal, but the brokerage also secured an 18,000-acre deal for Deltona, the Volusia County planned development that eventually became a city.

In addition, the partners handled the 47,000 acres for the Poinciana development in Osceola and Polk counties and the land deal for Isleworth, the luxurious west Orange County community where Tiger Woods and Shaquille O’Neal own homes.

It was Boice’s attention to detail and critical thinking that served as a role model for Craig Linton Jr., who became half-owner of the company.

“He was very analytical and had the ability to take a lot of detail and complexities of a transaction or property and simplify it,” he said.

In addition to his wife and granddaughter, Boice is survived by his grandson-in-law, Bryan Phillips; and three great-grandchildren. The family held a private memorial.