WILMINGTON — Walter John “Pete” Sutton of Wilmington NC, died on October 29, 2025 in a car accident near Baltimore, Maryland. He was 93 years old.
Pete was always on the go. He was born in Oakville, Ontario, on October 15, 1932 and grew to be a remarkable runner. (He claimed he got fast to run away from the bullies!) His fast feet carried him all the way to Helsinki, Finland where he represented Canada in the 1952 Olympic Games.
He attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on an athletic scholarship, graduating in 1959 with a Master of Science in Geology. His creative mind endlessly dreamed up new projects and led him to new endeavours. He invented a heating apparatus for oil extraction, searched for and meticulously repaired antique books which he then offered for sale online, and started a health and fitness blog — in his 80s and 90s. Up until his death everyone he met remarked on his youthfulness and vitality.
His adventurous spirit and stamina led Pete from the small Ontario town (population 7,896 in 1932) to Toronto and then New York City where he worked in the investment industry for companies including Dominion Securities, McLeod Young Weir, and Merrill Lynch.
He married his wife Tessa in 1980 and moved to Trinidad and Tobago in 1982 where they started a flower farm. Pete loved living in Trinidad: the weather, the way of life, and living where he worked, on a farm his family built from the ground up. In 1996 they purchased a wholesale flower business in the flower district of New York City, which they operated until moving to Wilmington, North Carolina in 2005.
No matter where he lived, Pete went to great lengths to stay in touch with friends and family around the world. He mailed hundreds of handwritten letters, talked on the phone and drove for days to visit his loved ones. Pete had a memory like a steel trap and endless curiosity. He was constantly learning and enthusiastically discussed wide-ranging topics from health, to art, to travel and pop culture with friends new and old. Though soft spoken, his excitement for a subject was always evident and a bit contagious.
He was a meticulous perfectionist, punctual, relentlessly stubborn, and determined. Throughout his long, rich, and varied life he remained an optimist by nature and by choice.
Pete was the first child of Dorothy Agnes (Byers) Sutton and Percy Sutton and was predeceased by his mother, father, eldest son Walter John, and youngest brother Hughie.
He is survived and will be dearly missed by his beloved wife, Tessa (Geofroy) Sutton; his children Deborah Sutton, Kimberley (Benjamin) Friberg, and Christopher (Hannah) Sutton; his brother Robert and sister Mary; and his grandchildren Leon Sutton Straus Robie, Harrison and Gwendolyn Friberg, and Heidi and Wren Sutton; and his nephews, nieces, cousins, extended family and friends.
A graveside service will be held in Oakville, Ontario in the spring.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Pete’s memory to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
