Tyler Potterfield, age 92, departed this life on August 16, 2026, after a brief illness.

Born on April 22, 1934, to parents Hugh Bernard and Elizabeth Maxwell Potterfield, he was a lifelong resident of Jacksonville, Florida and grew up in the Avondale neighborhood with 2 older brothers, Jack and Bernie.

Tyler attended Fishweir Elementary School with many of his lifelong friends and with his future wife, Meredith Martin. Meredith was four years his junior, but Tyler fondly recalled helping her cross the road each day in his position as a school crossing guard. He loved to share stories of his and his friends’ adventures growing up along the banks of the St. Johns River and was one of Jacksonville’s biggest cheerleaders. He went on to attend John Gorrie Middle School and graduated from Lee High School in 1953.

Tyler attended the University of Florida and graduated in 1956 with a degree in English Literature. While at UF he was an active member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity and remained active after graduation by serving as president of the Jacksonville chapter of the SAE alumni association. He was always happy to meet other SAE brothers.

After graduating from UF in 1956, Tyler joined the U.S. Navy Aviation Officer Candidate Program in Pensacola. He learned to fly and attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade. He joined the Navy Reserves in 1958, returned home to Jacksonville and married Meredith Rosalie Martin at the Riverside Baptist Church. They were a devoted pair who shared 65 years of marriage. Tyler cared for Meredith at home until her death in 2023 and missed her until the moment he passed.

Around 1960, Tyler joined the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and trained under notable NML leader, Eugene Koch. For two decades he excelled at managing the regional office of Northwestern Mutual while studying insurance underwriting, finance, investments, organizational management and federal taxation earning additional degrees, designations and accolades. He was chosen by his peers to receive the Huebner Heritage Award and was recognized by the United States General Agents and Managers Conference as a life recipient of the National Management Award. He maintained some of his most treasured friendships with his NML colleagues for the rest of his life.

In 1981, he founded and served as president of one of the largest health benefits administration companies in Florida – a leading provider of administrative services for employer health plans. His efforts made history in the 1980s with the new company’s introduction of the first model of managed health care in North Florida. He pioneered the transformative preferred provider organization (PPO) that was to revolutionize health care delivery in modern health insurance plans nationally.

In 1996, Mr. Potterfield founded a sister company, “The Janus Group Inc.” A technology centered organization serving public school systems. Using the company’s expertise in technology, The Janus Group still offers web-based systems focused on streamlining school administrative practices and stakeholder interactions.

Mr. Potterfield’s professional, social and community contributions included serving as president of the Jacksonville Society of Chartered Life Underwriters; chairman of the CLU Educational Trust and president of the Mental Health Clinic of Duval County. He was a founder and proud first president of Willing Hands Inc., a not-for-profit training organization providing services to charitable organizations. He served as director of the Metropolitan YMCA, The United Way, and the Childbirth Education Association. He recently served on the Advisory Board of the St. Johns County Salvation Army and was elected its chairman in 2015.

He was a member of Ye Mystic Revellers, a Jacksonville social club founded in 1923. In 1981, as Revellers Captain, he and his wife Meredith planned and hosted an enormous Camelot themed extravaganza at the Jacksonville Coliseum involving hundreds of actors and musicians. He then returned to serve as the King of the Revellers Ball in 1990. He was a longtime member of The Florida Yacht Club where he served as fleet captain from 1970-1971 and rear commodore in the 1980s. He was an enthusiastic family historian, member of the Midway Society of Liberty County, Georgia and The Sons of the American Revolution.

For many years, Tyler’s daily routine included swimming or playing handball at the YMCA. In later years, he stayed active by bicycle riding and walking and he still went to lift weights at the renovated Riverside YMCA at age 92. He enjoyed honing his skills as an archer, a marksman, a sailor, a hunter, a gardener, a swimmer and a fisherman.

He loved his memories of his experiences in the 1960s and 1970s; training his first Labrador retriever bird-hunting companion (Fella), his hike of the southern end of the Appalachian Trail; weekends spent in Clay County as a gentleman farmer and cattle rancher and his turn as the Florida Yacht Club's volunteer Santa Claus.

He most treasured his experiences on the coasts and waterways of and around Florida; riding the beaches of Cumberland Island before sunrise as a turtle nest patrol volunteer; driving an airboat; duck hunting in Mosquito Lagoon; bonefishing in Bimini; weekends out on the “Miss Boo,” his lovingly restored 1934 Dawn cabin cruiser; racing his champion Star sailboat the “Shannon”; or cruising further and faster in “Crisalene” his cigarette ocean racer. Tyler was a committed outdoorsman and lover of nature, the sun, the water, and all of God’s creatures. One of a kind, he will be dearly missed by his family and all who knew him.

Mr. Potterfield was pre-deceased by his loving wife of 65 years, Meredith Martin Potterfield, in 2023 and by his beloved son, Tyler Potterfield Jr., in 1979. He is survived by his two daughters Elizabeth Potterfield and Victoria Potterfield Branning (David). He was the proud grandfather of two grandsons Owen Tyler Branning and James Howell Branning.

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, December 29 at 11:00am at Southside Methodist Church with Reverend Riley Short officiating.