David L. Tucker

David Lindsay Tucker, “Dave”, 75, sailed off peacefully into the sunset in Wilmington, DE, on April 29, 2018.

Dave was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 23, 1942, the son of the late Robert & Eleanor Tucker.

He graduated from Upper Darby high school in 1960. He earned degrees from Paul Smith’s College in Saranac Lake in NY, Drexel University & The University of New Haven in CT.

Upon graduation, Dave joined the Navy as an officer. He married Suzanne Polier in 1966, and their first of many adventures together were Navy assignments in Adak, AK and Lemoore, CA. The uniqueness of his Adak experience and the friends he met there proved to be a fascinating experience and a formative one he held near and dear for the rest of his life.

Capitalizing on his degrees and experience, he turned to teaching, starting his career at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, MI. Drawn back to the east coast by family and salt water, he joined the faculty at Widener University as Associate Professor of Hospitality Management in 1984. He found a happy home at Widener, where he was famous for getting “off topic” and throwing life’s lessons into his lectures, encouraging his students to invest in stocks, open IRAs, travel after graduation and take time to find themselves. His lessons seem to have made lasting impressions on his students, many of whom he kept in touch with for years after their graduation from Widener.

He tended to have ill-behaved dogs as family pets, loved playing racquetball, always had a Corvette in his quiver, and enjoyed camping and traveling with his family during his summers off, zig-zagging cross country in the big old station wagon, checking off states and capitals.

While he loved to travel and see the world, Dave found true joy at home in Fenwick Island, DE, and particularly on his boat in the Little Assawoman Bay. Always a teacher, he was ready at any time for a nautical “evolution,” and was forever imparting his wisdom from the helm about all things relating to the sea, the bay, “keepers,” and musing about life. When his teenage daughters had their own agendas, he expanded his target audience to friends’ children and grandchildren, dozens of whom came to visit Fenwick for boating and crabbing lessons with “Captain Dave.” It was with his four grandchildren and “mates” Dave found his highest calling and true purpose in life, and his last decade was among the happiest of his life as he taught them the wonders of the ocean and bays and Fenwick Island sunsets.

His beautiful life will forever be cherished by his wife of 51 years, Suzanne “Suzi” Tucker, his two daughters Susannah Williams (Jim), and Elizabeth Sudderth along with his beloved grandchildren, Liam, Eva, Greta and Tucker, all of whom reside in Salt Lake City, UT.

A memorial service for Dave will be held at 11 am on Saturday, May 12, 2018 at Chandler Funeral Home, 2506 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803. Relatives and friends may call at the funeral home from 10-11 am.

Should friends desire, contributions may be sent to: The Friendship House, PO Box 1517, Wilmington, DE, 19899.