IN MEMORIAM | John Puffer III 1942-2016

Dr. Bill DeWeese was standing in line at Tampa International Airport in the 1980s, waiting for a flight to Mexico City, when he started chatting with a fellow traveler.

The stranger, John Puffer III, was something of a renaissance man, recalls DeWesse. Puffer revered Teddy Roosevelt, and tried to model his life after the former U.S. President. Puffer flew planes and traveled to cities worldwide. He spent the first half of his professional life as a lawyer, the second half as a banker. Says DeWeese, a Tampa-based neurosurgeon who became good friends with Puffer: “There was nothing mediocre about John.”

Puffer died Nov. 25. He was 74.