Although 1,200 riders and passengers joined the 15th Annual Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Harley-Davidson Ride for Children to raise money for a children's camp, there was one obvious, missing motorcyclist.

Participants were reminded of the loss of the ride's founder Bruce Rossmeyer who died earlier this year on his way to Sturgis for the legendary motorcycle rally.

In an event that carried more meaning than it had before the Ride for Children took place in DeLand in Central Florida on Sunday with his children taking the place of their fallen father.

Even Rossmeyer's wife honored his memory, riding in a support vehicle with several of her grandchildren.

Rossmeyer, known in the motorcycle world for being the largest Harley-Davidson dealer, died in a motorcycle crash July 30 in Wyoming  riding to Sturgis.
A rider didn't have to live near one of his fifteen dealerships to know of Bruce Rossmeyer, but just visit Daytona Bike Week in the last four years and they would inevitably have been drawn to the 109,000-square-foot Destination Daytona.

A large motorcycle complex any other time of the year with a huge dealership, restaurants and condominiums, the 150-acre resort grew during Bike Week to rival the celebrations on Main Street and was considered by Rossmeyer as his crown jewel.
 
His memory was honored on Sunday during the event which raises money for Camp Boggy Creek, which has served more than 40,000 children with chronic or life-threatening diseases and their families since it opened 1996. Rossmeyer was one of its founders.

"It has been a tough couple of months for anyone who knew the man or was involved with Camp Boggy Creek. They knew how much he enjoyed raising money for this," Rhonda Kelly, a volunteer for Ride For Children told a local television news station.

Going into Sunday's event, the motorcycle ride had raised $3.8 million for the camp giving Rossmeyer's oldest daughter, Mandy Rossmeyer Campbell hope this year's ride and related events including an auction would push that number past the $4 million mark.

And she said beginning with 2010, the event will be renamed the Bruce Rossmeyer Ride for Children.

"That will make him smile up in heaven," she said.