David Fyvolent

Obituary of David Fyvolent

David Bradley Fyvolent, 91, known as Buzzy to his friends and family passed peacefully Saturday night February 13th, just in time to see his wife Sally for Valentine’s Day.

 

The Fyvolent family have been members of the St. Petersburg community since his parents, Sam and Evelyn Fyvolent, moved from New York in the early 1900's. He was born at Mound Park Hospital (now Bayfront Medical Center) on May 30, 1929 and spent his early years around the Crescent Lake area of St. Petersburg.

 

He attended St. Pete High where he ran track, and was graduated in 1947, the same school from which his grandchildren, Elizabeth and Bradley were graduated. He enlisted in the United States Navy, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade and spent much of his Navy career aboard the Navy ship, the USS Salerno Bay.

 

After returning from his military service, he attended the University of Florida where he was graduated with a degree in Business Administration. While there he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. It was at UF where he met the love of his life and future wife Sally Felson of Jacksonville, FL, with whom he was married until her death in 1996.

 

Upon graduation, he worked for his father Sam in their corner store in downtown St. Pete, which is now the cafe for the Morean Art Center, and their second store in Bradenton, taking the ferry across Tampa Bay to go to work (before the Sunshine Skyway was built).

 

He ventured out on his own a few years later, starting Figure Fair, a chain of women's apparel stores, building that to 13 company-owned stores throughout Florida and Atlanta. Later opening Professional Uniforms along with his youngest son Douglas.

 

He was an inventor and entrepreneur, having secured several patents and starting several businesses.

 

He always had a curious mind, especially about gardening, microgreens and earthworms. He loved all things gardening, spending countless hours planting and tending to his backyard micro-greens, vegetables and fruits or reading about them in the magazines and online subscriptions he got every month. He loved to teach others, proudly giving tours of the plants in the garden, explaining their beauty and flavor, always sure to tell anyone who would listen about the critical role that earthworms played in the success of any backyard garden.  He loved learning and staying ahead of the curve with innovation he was the first person with a personal computer, (a Tandy TRS 80) in his office and was sharing information about the Internet as early as the mid-90s.

 

After his first wife Sally's passing, he was married to lifelong family friend Joan Esrick until her passing in 2014.

 

He was an active member of the St. Petersburg community and lifetime member of Temple Beth El synagogue where he served as president of the congregation and member of the board.

 

He was a member of a "boys' club", (if you can call 70-year-olds boys), named the ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out), where they met weekly for lunch to share stories, as well as celebrate or complain about all things life. 

 

He is survived by his three children, Susan, Arthur and his partner Jaymie, and Douglas and his wife Linda; his grandchildren, Courtney Fyvolent and partner Alex Crane, Elizabeth and Ian Gilchrist-Myers, Bradley Fyvolent and partner Sarah Durkin and Claire Fyvolent; his great grandchildren Hailey, Wyatt and Sailor; brother-in-law John Levy, nephews, John and Tom Levy, niece Barbra Rose and cousin Joel Fyvolent; and Joan's children Larry, Linda, Betsy, Steven and Michelle.

 

The funeral for family only will be held at 10am Tuesday February 16, 2021 at Chapel Hill Memorial Park in Largo, FL. A virtual service will be held simultaneously.

 

Donations can be made in his memory to Advocacy of Aging, care of Virginia Moore (g@advocacy4aging.com), a for-profit organization assisting seniors through the last phase of life.

The care of Mr. Fyvolent and his family has been entrusted to David C. Gross Funeral Home in St. Petersburg.

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