Andre B. Toussaint

August 21st, 1959-April 20th, 2010

Andre' was a special baby born to Bayard and Wanda Toussaint, in Palm Beach, Florida on August 21st, 1959. He spent just a few years there and then the family moved to Punta Gorda, Florida in 1962 when Andre's father took the position as manager of the Babcock Ranch. The family lived downtown while Andre' was just a toddler and he spent many hours visiting the men in the barbership and the local drugstore on his tricycle with his cowboy hat. The family later moved to a wonderful neighborhood called Aqui Esta where he grew up with wonderful neighbors and classmates that have been friends for his entire life.

Andre' was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy at the age of 4 and in those days, there were not many cases of MD in Charlotte County. Andre' became a "special" person to the smaller community then of Punta Gorda. He was a pretty popular guy on campus at Charlotte High School with his Harley Davidson Golfcart to transport him from one end of campus to the other and always had either a pretty girl or a strong football player in his cart to hitch a ride to class or carry him up 3 flights of stairs to class.

He went on to graduate from USF with 2 degrees in Computer Science and Business Management in 5 years; yes….he was special! Andre' eventually went to work for the A.C. Nielsen Company in Dunedin, Florida. They are best known for years as the "TV rating company" and many households have had boxes from this company in their homes to moniter what the public watches on television. He was a creator of programs for Nielsen's clients and later became one of their top trouble shooters for programs created within Nielsen. He worked there for over 25 years and many of the employees there became his 2nd family. Andre' was a special employee/family member to them as well. He retired just a few years ago to spend his remaining days with his wife.

Andre' met and fell in love late in life with his wife, Andrea over 5 years ago. They married and have lived and loved the best years of his life together in Dunedin, Florida. Andre' became an avid boater the last few years of his life and his stepson, Chris, would often take him out on his pontoon boat for hours at a time, fishing. The boating and Andrea, were probably two of the greatest joys of his life along with wonderful memories of hunting at Babcock as a kid and sharing campfires and stories and limericks with hunting buddies.

Despite the prediction of doctors when he was a young child, we were blessed to know, love and have Andre' for over 50 years in this world; beating all odds. He served as a source of inspiration to a lot of friends and classmates and he will be greatly missed by those that knew him. We rejoice in the new life that Andre' has now……free of Muscular Dystrophy and able to do the things he could not do in this life.

He is survived by his wife, Andrea and three stepchildren, Chris, Michelle and Michael, all of Dunedin, Florida and his loving mother and father, Bayard and Wanda Toussaint of Lake Placid, Florida and his sister, Renee' Toussaint-Strickland of Parrish, Florida.

There will be a memorial service for Andre' on Tuesday, April 27th at the First United Methodist Church on 507 W. Marion Avenue in Punta Gorda at 4:00 pm with a reception following for friends and family to visit. In lieu of flowers, the family would like to ask that you think about making a donation to MDA Muscular Dystrophy Association. This association provided Andre with state of the art wheelchairs, equipment and doctors all throughout his life. Many of those things would not have been affordable without the association's help and helped make a huge difference in the quality of Andre's life and thousands of other MD patients in this country.Please visit www.mda.org to donate.