Tampa-area construction, concrete entrepreneur and inventor dies at 78

James Patrick Judge, a Dunedin resident and longtime entrepreneur in the concrete and construction industries in the region and across the state, has died. 

Judge died Friday, Dec. 29 at Melech Hospice House in Temple Terrace after a continued decline in his health over the past year, according to a statement. He was 78. 

Judge’s first business was Judge Construction, which he founded in the mid-1960s. The company, according to a statement from the Judge family, “quickly became one of the largest concrete pumping companies in the Southeastern U.S.” It pumped the concrete for the construction of many iconic Florida landmarks including Walt Disney World; Epcot; the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant; the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant; the Skyway Bridge; Tampa Stadium; Raymond James Stadium; Busch Gardens; Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville; Tampa International Airport; and many of the high-rises that make up the skylines of Tampa, Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville.