Eric Taylor Tobin Wilde died early April 13, 2024. It caught everyone by surprise, including Eric, who had no intention of dying. Like many Friday nights, he had a few drinks (he shouldn’t have), talked to friends, then went to bed forgetting to wear the CPAP  mask … allowing him to stop breathing … which he now realizes was essential for life.  If he could say something, it would be "WTF."

Eric is the loving and beloved younger son of Lynne Tobin and Taylor Wilde of West Boothbay Harbor. His brother and belle-soeur, Alex and Sarah Willde and their children, Madeline and Jennings,  all live in Danby, Vermont. He is the nephew of Susan Tobin of Bel Air, Maryland, of Bill and Sarah Wilde of Walpole, and of Pam Wilde of California. His machatunim, Lynn and Jeff Meyer live in Granville, New York and Steph Meyer and Geraint Edwards live in Danby, Vermont also. Eric had 23 first, second and third cousins, all of whom he loved dearly.

He belonged to a Band of Brothers which included cousins and lifelong friends. They saved his life three years ago, when the horrible combination known as depression and anxiety led Eric into an alcohol abuse disorder which caused congestive heart failure, making it difficult for him to breathe. 

If you knew Eric, and almost everyone did, because he never met a stranger, you would have known a brilliant, loving, generous, caring, kind, forgiving, sentimental and hilariously funny man. He had the very best people skills. Cooking was his passion. We are all larger for it. He loved music and filled the home with reggae, rap, rhythm and blues. He loved being on the sea in his fleet.

He was great in math ... his ancestor was Johannes Kepler … and he could  figure out how to do or fix anything. He had a fantastic singing voice, was a good dancer, spoke fluent French and was a generous gift giver. Women, especially, were very appreciative of these last four attributes.

Maybe you didn’t know that Eric graduated from the Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, Connecticut, where he played football, lacrosse and sang in the a cappella group, Crimson 7. He became an "Old Boy" in May, 2007. He furthered his education at Northeastern University in Boston, majoring in business/finance and minoring in French, completing the 5-year program in four. After that, he went off to St. Barth to refine his French and to dwell in his beloved La Vigie, which will now belong to him forever.

And today, if you knew him, you would feel crushed and broken-hearted. You would hardly be able to breathe or to think or to feel anything but extreme excruciating grief.

If you knew him, your world would be less bright. The most brilliant star in your sky would have fallen.

If you want to remember Eric, keep saying his name. May his memory be a blessing to you. Be generous with the love you give and be grateful for the love you receive. All that is left of Eric is LOVE.

A celebration of Eric’s life will be held later this summer, when his family has stopped crying every minute of every day.

Toi la, nous t’aimons, notre amour, notre coeur.