Former tech, pharmaceutical exec sells Palm Beach home for $8.1M

Edward L. Hennessy Jr., a former executive of companies ranging from United Technologies to Avanir Pharmaceuticals to Wackenhut Corp., has sold his waterfront Palm Beach home for $8.1 million.

Records show Deja Views LLC bought the five-bedroom, 6,526-square-foot home at 500 Island Drive. The Rhode Island-based buyer, controlled by a Greenberg Traurig attorney in Boston, did not take out a mortgage for the deal. More information on the buyer was not available in state or county records.

Built in 1955, Hennessy and his late wife Ruth, paid $2.4 million for the 0.4-acre Everglades Island property in 1991. The Hennessys, also philanthropists in Palm Beach, put the house on the market in November for nearly $15 million. The asking price was later reduced to nearly $11 million in April.

The colonial-style home includes a pool, full-house generator, 12-foot ceilings, elevator, master suite, fireplace and views of the Intracoastal and the ocean.

Hennessy has worked for or been on the boards of a number of securities, technology and financial firms, according to a Bloomberg profile. Other owners on the exclusive Palm Beach island have included a former Bear Stearns executive, a member of the St. Louis-based Hermann family, and the founder of the Checkers fast food chain.