Bruce Van Wyk

BRUCE VAN WYK

Bruce Van Wyk, entrepreneur, developer and philanthropist, whose vision and spirit changed the face of the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, died suddenly on Christmas morning, December 25, 2003, at the Johns Hopkins University, following surgery. He was a young 63.

Mr. Van Wyk was born in Clifton Springs, NY, one of three sons of a Dutch Reformed Minister and his wife. He was raised in Iowa, New Jersey and Michigan before earning a Political Science Degree from Oberlin College and Masters Degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University. His first post-graduate job was a budget analyst for the Executive Office of the President (OMB). Later, he helped Mayor Lindsay's administration in New York City in cleaning up police corruption following the Serpico Sandal, and he also spent two years as an analyst in the city's Environmental Protection Agency.

Tiring of Bureaucratic life, Mr. Van Wyk came to Falling Waters, WV in 1974 and purchased at auction the old Honeywood Plantation. With his carpenter uncle, he built his first house in Honeywood-on-the-Potomac, his first project and West Virginia's first planned community. Other residential developments followed and he soon began developing land for business, commercial, and educational uses, bringing hundreds of jobs to West Virginia and improving the quality of life of the entire community. Through his efforts, there are now 450 homes, 108 apartments, a 10-screen moving theater, a regional mall with 45 additional businesses, a Tiger aircraft manufacturing facility, the US Coast Guard Vessel Documentation Center, the US Barcoding Facility, the US Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms National Tracing Center, the Potomac Industrial Park, soccer fields, schools, and numerous other businesses and commercial enterprises.

Mr. Van Wyk was passionate about improving educational opportunities and took special pride in his participation as business partner to Winchester Avenue School, as Trustee of the State of West Virginia University Systems, and as past President of the Board of Directors for the WVU Entrepreneurial Studies and Development. He also held leadership roles in other civic organizations as Board member of the WV Chamber of Commerce, the WV Roundtable, the Ponderosa Franchise Association, and the Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia. In addition, he was past President of the Rotary Club of Martinsburg, a sponsor of the United Way in Martinsburg, an executive committee member of the National Association of Home Builders, and the founding President of the Eastern Panhandle Builders Association. His role as Vice Chairman of the National Council for Johns Hopkins Medicine was also meaningful to him.

Mr. Van Wyk's contributions to the community life are reflected in several honors. His company ranked 357 in Inc. Magazine's list of 500 fastest growing US private companies in 1994. That same year, his Spring Mills subdivision was named "West Virginia Subdivision of the Year" by the West Virginia Homebuilders Association. Inc Magazine, Ernst and Young, and Merrill Lynch named Mr. Man Wyk the "West Virginia Entrepreneur of the Year" in 1992. In 1997, he was named "West Virginia Entrepreneur of the Year" by the WVU School of Business and Economics and in 2001 he was named "Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year."

He is survived by his wife of 19 years, Mikki Van Wyk and his daughter, Heather White-Van Wyk of Falling Waters, WV and Potomac, MD; his parents, Julia and Herbert Van Wyk of Holland, PA; his brothers, Paul and wife Pamela Van Wyk of Greencastle, IN, Carl and wife Carol Van Wyk of Tall Timbers, MD; four nieces, Christin, Carrie, Laura and Kate; and three nephews, Mark, Matt and Ted.

He will be sadly missed.

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, December 30, 2003, at the Trinity Episcopal Church, Martinsburg, at 1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, Inc., 1107 Kenilworth Dr., Suite 202, Baltimore, MD 21204-2186.

Arrangements by BROWN FUNERAL HOME, 304-263-8896.