John Wirth Wilde

John Wirth “Jack” Wilde, 91, of Carrollwood Village in Tampa Florida, passed away suddenly on July 12, 2025. He was finishing a stay in a local rehabilitation center, anxious to get back to the bike riding that he enjoyed up until his last month of life.

Jack was born on April 3, 1934 in Balimore, Maryland, son of Mary Louise Ackerman and Alfred James Wilde. He spent his entire childhood in the Germantown area of Philadelphia. He was a graduate of LaSalle High School, then went on to Cornell University where he earned a degree in Civil Engineering. He sandwiched his Cornell years around two years in the Army, serving two years in Korea.

After his Honorable Discharge from the Army, he returned to Cornell where he met Doreen Ellen Boult in the Physics Department. They were married soon after, and spent the next 68 years together. He and Doreen have three children, John, Jim, and Terri, all of whom were born during or shortly after his Cornell years. Jack was a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity at Cornell.

The Wilde family embarked on a remarkable journey for the next 20 years, travelling the world with their beloved beagle dog Pixie to pursue Jack’s job as a construction engineer. Their travels took the family to Israel, Greece, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and multiple states throughout the US, a total of 38 moves in all that ended with their arrival in Tampa in the early 1990’s, where they lived for the last 30 years at their home in Carrollwood Village. After Pixie, at least a dozen cats graced the Wilde household, all beloved pets.

Jack was an accomplished athlete, earning a High School National Championship in crew as a LaSalle student, as well as a number of prestigious titles rowing for the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia. He went on to win another National Championship with Cornell during his Freshman year in college. He participated in the 1956 Olympic Trials, where he narrowly missed making the US team. In his adult years, he turned to distance running, and remained a dedicated runner until his mid-60’s. Due to back problems, he turned to biking in his 60’s, and was still riding 10 miles daily 5 days per week at age 90.

The family were avid golfers, and Jack maintained a single digit handicap for most of his adult life, playing often with wife Doreen and their kids.

Jack was also an excellent Bridge player, and played tournament bridge up to age 90. He loved to read, and was a huge fan of classical music.

Jack established “Wilde Mechanical Inc”, an Industrial HVAC company, when he moved to Tampa in the early 90’s and at one point had more than 100 employees. He was known for being an honest broker in a dishonest industry, and took great pains to deal fairly with clients and his employees.

Jack is survived by wife Doreen, sons John (Terri) and Jim (Nilo), daughter Terri (Charlie), and grandchildren JC, Carly, Becky, Tony, Maddi, JJ, Aurora, Rangina, and Moshon.

A service in Jack’s memory will be held on Wednesday, July 16. The service will be family only.