Obituary of John P. Wallace

John P. Wallace, Business and Community Leader John P. Wallace, local businessman and member of charity boards, died Tuesday, March 6, 2001 at his home. He was 77. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, one of the Wallaces of Iowa; he came to St. Petersburg at the tender age of 3 months with his father and mother, John B. and Margaret Wallace. His Grandfather, Henry C. Wallace, was Secretary of Agriculture and his uncle, Henry A. Wallace, was Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President under Franklin Roosevelt. The Wallace family lived on Shore Acres in his youth where he learned to love fishing, and he attended Sunshine Elementary School in Pass-A-Grille taking the trolley daily out Central Avenue. He attended other local public schools and then graduated from Mount Herman School in Massachusetts, received a BS in Meteorology from the University of Chicago and a BS in Commerce from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as a meteorologist in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Martha Rudy of St. Petersburg with whom he raised five sons and their wives and brother William P. of St. Petersburg. Mrs. Wallace was a member of the Pinellas School Board from 1972-1980, son, John R., an attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina, son, Thomas R., President of Florida Wallace, Inc., St. Petersburg, son, Peter R., an attorney, St. Petersburg, Speaker of the Florida House 1994-96, son, James P., Architect in Philadelphia and son, David A., an attorney, Sarasota. He had 9 grandchildren. Wallace started his poultry business in 1948 to distribute hybrid layer chickens in the southeast U.S. As the business grew, it expanded geographically to include distribution to Latin America and in 1962, received the President?s ?E? award for excellence in export, was named a member of the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1999. He was Chairman of SHARE Council of Institute for Food and Agricultural Science at the University of Florida. Wallace, a pioneer in the U.S. Poultry and Egg Industry was the initial chairman of the American Egg Board in 1971, served as President of the Florida Poultry Federation who named him Man of the Year in 1966 and 2000, the Southeastern Poultry and Egg Association in 1965 and the United Egg Producers. He was Chairman of the Board of Egg Clearinghouse, Inc. and the National Commission on Egg Nutrition. Wallace was a member of the board of Tampa Bay Research Institute, Trustee of the Florida Orchestra and recipient of the Golden Baton award. He was a member of the board of SouthTrust Bank and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., of Des Moines, Iowa. He has served as an elder of First Presbyterian Church, member of the Kiwanis Club of St. Petersburg, the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, and formerly the Dragon Club. Wallace?s love for boating and fishing took him to Boca Grande to fish where he resided part of the year. The family requests in lieu of flowers, gifts to the First Presbyterian Church, The Florida Orchestra, The Tampa Bay Research Institute or The Eckerd College Waterfront Program.