Tampa loses a civic champion

Philanthropist and businessman Art Pepin dies at age 78.

By LINDA GIBSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 9, 2000

TAMPA -- Art Pepin, known as much for his philanthropy as his Anheuser-Busch distributorship, died at his home Wednesday night. He was 78.

Pepin founded Pepin Distributing Co. here in 1967 after running a similar business in Gainesville. He used his success to finance many events and organizations benefiting children, from the Special Olympics to the Tampa Children's Home.

"He was one of those people who gave back in a lot of ways," said former Tampa mayor Sandy Freedman. "He could afford to, but there are a lot of people out there who can afford to and don't."

His generosity helped create the Pepin Heart & Vascular Institute at University Community Hospital-Tampa, and restore Pepin-Rood Stadium at the University of Tampa. He also contributed to the Martin Luther King Scholarship Fund, the McDonald's Training Center for the handicapped, the Deaf Service Center, the March of Dimes and the Gasparilla Distance Classic.

He is credited with bringing the senior professional golf tournament now known as the GTE Classic to Tampa, and with helping to start Pepin Academy, a charter school for high school students with learning disabilities.

Pepin was born in Newport, Vt., on July 16, 1921, and came from a large family. He was an outstanding high school athlete in Vermont, playing football, basketball and baseball.

He wouldn't have been able to attend college had it not been for a society lady who took an interest in him and helped form his ideas about philanthropy.

He met Mrs. Leonore Hayes as a boy while caddying for her at a golf club near Newport, where she had a summer home, and she provided him with money to attend Middlebury College in Vermont. Sometime after he graduated, he tried to pay her back, but she tore up his check.

"I was almost named after her," said Pepin's oldest daughter, Pam Pepin.

Pepin's biggest loves in life were his family, golf and his adopted hometown, Tampa, said Freedman.

His son, Tom, who now runs Pepin Distributing Co., and Pam Pepin recalled Thursday that he had a special song for each of his children.

"He was very nurturing, a big hugger," Pam Pepin said.

One of her father's last endeavors was to help found the Pepin Academy. Started four years ago, the school will have 75 students next fall.

Academy Principal JoAnn Shaw said even after Pepin's health began to fail in the past year or two, he kept in touch with the school. He met with students in February at an open house, at which he was the guest of honor.

"They couldn't believe what a genuine human being he was," she said. "We used him as an example; whatever you dream is possible."

Pepin's college career started in 1939 but was interrupted in 1943 by a stint in the Marines and service in Guam.

He returned to Middlebury in 1946. After graduating, Pepin took jobs as a salesman. He sold insurance, cars, sporting goods, advertising, real estate and cemetery plots. For a while, he sold Blatz beer. He also worked as a bartender and played semipro football on weekends with the Glens Falls, N.Y., Commodores.

In 1956, he teamed up with a friend from the Marines and started a beer distributorship in Manchester, N.H. In 1960, he obtained the Anheuser-Busch distributorship in Gainesville. In 1967, he obtained the distributorship in Tampa.

"Art Pepin has been a longtime family friend for more than 40 years," said Anheuser-Busch president August Busch III in a statement faxed from company headquarters in St. Louis. "He valued friendship and went out of his way to help people."

In 1986, at 64, Pepin became the oldest person in the country to undergo a heart transplant. He traveled to Houston for the operation. Three years later, he donated $1-million to University Community Hospital-Tampa to create the Pepin Heart & Vascular Institute.

He had undergone an operation at the hospital in 1985 to have a pacemaker implanted. He insisted on taking a miniature television with him into surgery so he wouldn't miss his favorite baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals, play in the World Series, said hospital spokeswoman Tammy Hunt.

Under local anesthetic, Pepin gave surgeons play-by-play commentary on the game while they operated on him, she said.

Although his heart gave him health problems for years, he wasn't one to dwell on that.

Said Freedman, "I never saw him when he didn't have a smile on his face. He was always in good humor even when he wasn't feeling well. You could never tell anything was wrong with Art."

Hindman Wall, athletic director at the University of Tampa from 1991 until August 1999, said Pepin gave a lot of support to the school's athletic programs. Its stadium is named for Pepin and the late Edward Rood Sr.

"He was just a really good man," said Wall.

Survivors include his wife, Polly; two sons, Tom, of Tampa, and James, of Stillwater, Okla.; two daughters, Pam, of Tampa, and Jill, of Stillwater; a brother, Andrew, of Newport, Vt.; a sister, Lee Lucas, of Newport; and nine grandchildren.

Services for Pepin will be Monday at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, 5225 N Himes Ave. Visitation will be from 1 to 3 p.m. at Higgins Hall, with a mass at 4 p.m. A private interment will be June 13 at the Garden of Memories.

Mike Readling contributed to this report. Linda Gibson can be reached at (813) 226-3382 or at gibson@sptimes.com.

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