Anthony J. Florio

Anthony J. "Tony" Florio, a longtime resident of Smyrna, Delaware, and North Troy, Vermont, died Tuesday, Jan. 20. He was 99. Tony was a wildlife biologist and conservationist, as well as a gifted artist, photographer and writer.

He was the first hire of the newly minted Delaware Game and Fish Commission in 1949, working for the agency until his retirement as head of the wildlife division in 1986. The 6,300-acre waterfowl refuge where he lived virtually his entire career was renamed the Tony Florio Woodland Beach Wildlife Area in 2014.

Tony had a wry sense of humor and an abiding curiosity about both people and the natural world. An irrepressible optimist, he was an entertaining raconteur, an avid reader, an amateur archaeologist of local Native American sites, and an outspoken proponent of social justice and ethics in government.

Tony grew up in a large Italian-American family on a farm in Orange, Conn., and graduated from the University of Connecticut. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, where he trained as a pilot, flying F-86 Sabre jets and Mustang P-51 fighters.

In 1954, he married Patricia Marker and they moved into the 250-year-old Thomas Sutton House on the Delaware Bay salt marshes, where they raised Gwen, Roger and Kathleen to the music of tens of thousands of Canada geese and other waterfowl. Over the years, the family nurtured any number of injured wild animals, including raccoons, opossums, hawks, owls, a deer, and a fox, all tolerated to various degrees by the family's black Labrador retrievers.

Under the tutelage of his brother-in-law and best friend, Dr. Donald "Pete" Piper, he became an enthusiastic waterfowl and upland bird hunter, keeping the family freezer supplied with game.

Tony was an accomplished pen-and-ink artist, focusing on waterfowl and Delaware's historic buildings. His own drawings illustrated his 2002 memoir "Progger: A Life on the Marsh," which celebrated the rich diversity of Delaware's wetlands.

After his retirement in 1986, Tony and Pat spent six months living in Ireland before settling for nearly 40 years in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, a region he'd come to know and love during his years hunting with Dr. Piper.

Tony spent the last months of his life at Friends Village in Woodstown, N.J., where he often extolled the beauty of Salem County with the highest possible compliment: "It looks just like lower Delaware used to."

He is survived by his wife, Patricia, of Woodstown; children Gwen (Scott Crichton) of Swedesboro, N.J., Roger (Anne Marie) of Camarillo, Calif., and Kathleen (Drey Mychalus) of New Park, Pa.; grandchildren Sean Breslin (Jessica) of Woodbury, N.J., Gina Florio Sous (David Sous) of Mountain Lakes, N.J., and Jessie Florio (Melanie) of Rochester, N.Y.; and great-grandchildren Charlie Lewis and Fiona Breslin, and Miles and Wesley Sous. His beloved granddaughter Kate Breslin died in 2021.

A memorial service will be held in the spring with arrangements to be announced later. Donations can be made to Delaware Wild Lands and The Nature Conservancy.