He survived eight days lost in the Florida brush in only his undergarments and a jacket, and family and community members celebrated Matthew “Mattfish” Bailey’s return home to Naples in mid-November.
The stress on the 68-year-old man, however, wasn’t something he could recover from. Family and friends remember his love of the water, an “epic” road trip just before his disappearance, his love of music, and his ability to absorb every moment life gave him.
He died five days, early Nov. 20, after that miraculous emergence, at the hospital where he was recovering.
Who was Matthew Bailey?
Naples was where Matthew Bailey took his first breath, as something of a local celebrity, and his last…