We learned last week that old friend Charles Tobias had passed away at his home in Vero Beach, Florida. He was 91. I got to know Charles later in his life when he was living in the BVI and focused on the Pusser’s British Navy Rum brand he founded and the Pusser’s restaurants that he started. He sponsored several of our events in the BVI and was always welcoming and charming.
But Tobias was a man who lived many lives and was accomplished in multiple ways. He came from modest beginnings in Canada and by dint of raw talent as a runner he earned a full scholarship to USC in California.
He set the Canadian schoolboy record for that mile at 4 minutes, six seconds. At the time, his only competition was Roger Bannister who would go on to be the first to break the four-minute mile.
With a dual degree in aeronautical and mechanical engineering –he was a technological wizard—Tobias entered the marine corps, became a pilot and flew many sorties during the Viet Nam war. He was even shot down and rescued by Navy Seals.
Following his stint in the marines, he founded a California-based tech company which he eventually merged with Fairchild Semiconductor earning him a fabulous payday.
He had always loved the sea and was determined to buy an ocean-going sailboat and sail it around the world, which he spent five years accomplishing. Among his human crew, he also had aboard a chimpanzee and a real leopard cat.
Following the circumnavigation, Pusser’s Rum became the focus of his life and many a sailor has tipped back a tot or two of his British Navy Rum or enjoyed a Pain Killer cocktail in the BVI or at the Annapolis Sailboat Show which for many years had a Pusser’s restaurant right at its heart.
