It is with great sadness and heavy hearts we share Dennis DeBon's passing on August 1st, 2024.
He touched many lives and will be missed dearly. He was born in Buffalo, New York and
eventually moved to the Tampa Bay area in the late 70's. He truly lived every day with a zest and
love for life. He was a creative soul with a great sense of humor. He enjoyed swing dancing, live
music, playing pool and Buffalo Bills football. He loved traveling to new places and thrived on
new experiences.
Dennis' greatest pride and joy was creating glass artwork for those whose homes and personal
spaces they graced. His beautiful one-of-a-kind EnergyWebs added color and vibrance to the
spaces they lived in. He loved knowing of the joy his artwork brought to others and was honored
to have his unique pieces enriching so many lives. He often said the art community's fellow artists
were his family. He looked forward to each Fall and Spring season when he would travel to exhibit
in fine art shows. He looked forward to seeing everyone each festival season as the years passed
and felt a huge comradery with fellow creators. He enjoyed such notoriety as to be chosen as a
Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist in 2023 and was also chosen from a select group to have his art
displayed at the Nashville airport skylight in 2022-2023 in honor of the annual Bonnaroo festival.
He also felt the boxing community was his family. He was licensed as a professional
boxing referee in 2009 after working his way through the amateurs. In 2022 he received his
judging license and was still active at the time of his passing. He was inducted into the Boxing
Hall of Fame in 2022. He formed and enjoyed many wonderful friendships for a lot of years with
fellow referees and judges and with those who shared his love of the sport. He took great pride in
being part of the boxing community and contributing his skills as a referee and judge. He met
many of the great boxers and loved being a part of the sport of boxing.
Dennis was a talented screenwriter and loved portraying the adventures of historical figures of the
past. He loved history and wrote about it. He wrote about everything from Gates Flying Circus to
Horatio Jackson's first road trip across America. He was a wonderful and expressive writer.
Most of all, Dennis was a kind and gentle man who loved deeply from the heart. To those that
knew him and experienced that, it is his greatest gift to us. May Dennis' time in our lives be a
lesson to us all that we are all temporary and things are temporary. He always said, "All we have
is now". May his life and love of life remind us all that all we have is now and we are here to love
without fear and boundaries. May the memories we have of him live on in our hearts and be a
blessing to us always.
Dennis was one of six siblings and is survived by his brother, Ralph (Rosa) Sutton and many nieces
and nephews. He will be dearly missed by friends and family. A Celebration of Life will be
announced at a later time. Share small acts of kindness in memory of Dennis, and savor love and
laughter with all those around you in the present moment.