Hubert Edward Caulfield

Hubert Edward Caulfield was born in St. Petersburg, Florida March 9, 1933, passed away on June 14, 2020 after a long illness due to an injurious fall in 2010. A life-long resident of St. Petersburg, Hubert attended St. Paul’s Catholic School and graduated from Duke University in 1955 with a degree in Accounting and an athletic “letter” in gymnastics. He was the grandson of Scot/Irish immigrants; his Grandmother, Catharine Marie McCarthy Caulfield arriving in St. Petersburg (via Louisiana, Georgia, and Central Florida) in 1896 with her four youngest children, including his father, Hubert Eustice Caulfield who was 4. He started his career working in the family Marine and fuel barge-hauling business upon graduation from Duke. His creative work ethic prompted his calculated “reinvention of the wheel.” He founded Aaron Fuel Oil Company and later Caulfield Marine, a full-service boatyard, on a family property on Salt Creek. Alternately he invested in real estate and was a pioneer in the storage warehouse business (Caulfield Warehouses) long before it occurred to U-Haul and others. As a city “native son” and likely something to do with the community focused instincts of his family, he became active in civic life and was a candidate for city council and then mayor on two occasions. His goal was to win the battle, not necessarily the election. He was a member of the First Methodist Church, St. Petersburg Yacht Club, Bartlett Park Tennis Center and a 32nd Degree Mason. He was an avid tennis player, expert photographer and ultimately, in the family tradition, a man of the sea in both business, pleasure and volunteer efforts in marine rescue and towing during many of our hurricanes. He took the sea to the sky when he and his wife became private pilots and graduated from smaller to larger personal aircraft as their skills advanced. A student of history, religion, the arts and politics, he was a voracious traveler and left few stones un-kicked almost anywhere in the world, whether dug-out canoe in the Amazon or 5-star hotel in Beijing. He was comfortable on all planes of the many worlds in which he traveled. As he planned for retirement, he and his wife, Clotilde, built their dream getaway riverside home in the mountains in the Gunnison/Crested Butte area of Colorado, where they learned to love down-hill and cross-country skiing, fly-fishing and even some local politics with shared value systems of honesty and integrity. Most importantly, unknown to many, Hubert kept his acts of kindness and generosity private and chose not to flaunt them. There were many. His quiet and more pure approach to philanthropy no doubt a footprint taught by his parents and Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch grandmothers. He was a trailblazer in all aspects of the term. He was a fiery redhead. It was his job. He made a good life. His mantra of hard work and perseverance served him well. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Clotilde Wright Caulfield, his daughter Cherie Louise Caulfield Byrd, his grandson Tyson P. Walters, his great-granddaughter Addison Rose Walters and nephew Kenneth Ferdon.