Sandra Post, a Fort Lauderdale businesswoman who dabbled in Italian restaurants, boutiques and motels, died of ovarian cancer on Valentine’s Day at hospice, according to her family. She was 85.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was a Girl Scout, Post had been in the real estate business since 1966. She was a model in high school, married at age 18, and immediately started her family.

She was a “self-made woman,” said her daughter, Patti Post. “She lived life on her own terms. She raised me to always take care of myself, never expect anyone to support and save me. Live the life you want to lead.”

Teaching her children to be kind to animals and to each other, “we had the best mom there was,” Patti Post said. “She wanted us to grow up good, kind, helpful people and live a wonderful life, and help others along the way.”

The mother-daughter team worked together at their real estate firm of Post & Post Inc. It opened in 1977, two years after moving to South Florida.

In the mid-1980s, the mother and daughter team founded the Big Louie’s restaurants in South Florida. The restaurants, including two in Fort Lauderdale, would eventually be sold to Bobby Rubino’s Corp.

Sandra Post’s grandparents were born in Sicily, so while she had Italian roots, she came up with the idea only after finding the perfect location. Instead of “ready, aim, fire” she operated more untraditionally, Patti Post said: “Get the building and (then) figure out what to do with it.”

How the popular restaurants got their name amused guests who asked where was Louie, to have fingers pointed at Sandra Post instead.

“Big Louie was a made-up name,” Patti Post said. “She was such a pretty, petite lady she thought it was fun to think there was a big guy name Louie in charge. Like an alter ego.”

From 1985-1990, the Posts owned the A1A Atlantic Inn in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

And when the Posts purchased a building at 3300 E. Oakland Park Blvd. to house their real estate operation, they had extra space that shouldn’t go to waste. So they opened the Star Collection Boutique in 1993. XS Magazine named the retail shop “Best Designer Boutique in Broward and Palm Beach counties” in 1997. The boutique was open for several years.

Ahead of her time, Sandra Post bought commercial property along Galt Ocean Mile in 1999, working to get permission for outdoor dining and “change the makeup of the neighborhood,” Patti Post said. Eventually it would be rented to five restaurants. Since 1997, the pair sold 650 condos on resale at the L’Hermitage, where they lived, according to her daughter.

In the morning they worked at the motel filling up the 10 rooms, Patti Post said, they sold real estate in the afternoon, and were at the restaurant in time for the dinner rush.

The Posts sold Mike Monk, originally from Atlanta, a condo at L’Hermitage 13 years ago, and remained close friends. They tended to do that with their clients, Monk said, so they would learn about their new community, where to call if they needed anything, and to meet people.

“I went to a lot of dinners,” he said, “it seemed like every time someone new moved into the building. It was about becoming part of a community, that’s what they were incredible about.”

Sandra Post, he said, “never said an unkind word about a person. She was a very sweet lady, very considerate, always there to help.”

Sandra Post and Big Louie’s were the subject of news stories in 1988 when she and her store manager were accused of breaking a code violation.

Charges were later dismissed. Post maintained she had publicly supported a friend who was running for a city commission seat. Once the balloons went up and the brochures handed out, she alleged her friend’s opponent, a city commissioner, had code inspectors swarm the pizzeria and accuse them of having 29 people inside when capacity only allowed 22.

“She was traumatized, it was embarrassing. We were never really political, she was trying to help a friend,” Patti Post said.

Sandra Post testified in federal court in her lawsuit that she was so troubled by the actions of city officials that she sold Big Louie’s for $1.1 million in 1988. The lawsuit was thrown out in 1995, ending nearly seven years of litigation over whether a commissioner used political influence to harass the pizzeria. She set out “to clear her name,” Patti Post said.

In addition to her daughter, Patti Post, of Fort Lauderdale, Sandra Post is survived by her son, Daniel Post, of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Sandra Post never retired from real estate. Doing it her way, she chose not to have a funeral, memorial or celebration of life service.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at . Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash