August 22, 2004 – George Severn Tyler, III, a well-known Annapolis restaurateur, antiques dealer, real estate developer and blue water sailor died Wednesday, August 18, 2004 near his summer home in St. Michaels, Md.
He was born in Baltimore in 1935 and attended Southern High School and the University of Baltimore. Tyler was an accomplished sportsman, playing semi-pro football and was one of the founders and players of the Annapolis Lacrosse Club and Baltimore Lacrosse Club.
With an avid interest in historic preservation, architecture, and antiques, he was one of the forerunners of the restoration of homes on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in the early 1960s when he also established his first antiques shop.
Tyler moved with his family to Annapolis in 1966 and opened Marmaduke's Pub in 1969 in Eastport, the first of several successful businesses in the area, including the Captain’s Table restaurant in Annapolis, Steamboat Landing and the Backfin restaurants in Galesville, Md, and the St. Michaels Inn.
A competitive yachtsman, George Tyler competed in many local races on the Chesapeake in his Columbia 24, Tippecanoe, and as skipper of other vessels. He sailed in the Annapolis/Newport, Newport/Bermuda and SORC races for many years. He was also the downwind helmsman on American Eagle with Ted Turner.
While living in Galesville for ten years, he worked in Washington, DC where he built several high-rise office buildings, served on the President's Council for Housing the Homeless, and was featured in a BBC film for constructing the largest timepiece in the world that was larger than Big Ben. His last project in the District was working on the restoration of the Willard Hotel and the Occidental Restaurant next to the White House, for which he was featured on national television.
In 1987, he and his wife Cindy sailed to the Caribbean where they lived aboard their 50-foot sailboat Childe for several years before settling on St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. The Tylers purchased a circa 1760 Danish town estate in Christiansted, St. Croix that was in ruin, and restored it to its former grandeur. The property is now listed on the National Register as an historic landmark. The main house and appendages are completely made of yellow brick which came from Denmark by schooner and the courtyard and gardens are surrounded by a twelve-foot coral wall. The property is the only house in the Virgin Islands, which has been exorcised twice for ghosts and has been featured on the History Channel, Antiques Magazine, House Beautiful and most recently, Traditional Home magazine.
Tyler was renowned for his knowledge, collection and acquisition of West Indian mahogany Colonial furniture, of which he is considered an authority.
His business interests on St. Croix were extensive, including the Pink Fancy Hotel, Schooner Bay Marketplace, a gourmet supermarket, and Stowaway Self Storage. He served on the Board of Directors of the St. Croix Landmark Society and the St. Croix Hotel and Tourism Association for many years.
George and Cindy Tyler traveled extensively, including cruising the Mediterranean on their 20-meter powerboat, Tigress.
According this his family, he was an aficionado of opera and fine art, a gourmet, and a lover of life. Well-known for his charisma, sense of humor, intelligence, large stature, and wit, he lived his life to the fullest extent and those fortunate enough to know him well will always remember him as one of the most exceptional persons they ever met.
George Tyler is survived by his wife of 25 years, Cindy Patterson Tyler formerly of Annapolis and currently of St. Michaels and St. Croix, three children, George Severn Tyler, IV of Davidsonville, Hamilton Tyler of Millersville and Caroline Tyler Huddleston of Centreville, former wife Elizabeth Rumsey Finkle, two grandsons, and his sister Carol Baker of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
In lieu of funeral services, a waterside cocktail party will be held in his honor at Overlook Pavilion at Port Annapolis Marina in Annapolis, Md on Sunday, August 29, 2004 at 2 p.m., and an additional event will be held on St. Croix at a later date. (See www.georgetyler.info.) for more information.
