In Remembrance

For more than 25 years, Carl Cronan worked as a reporter, winning several awards for breaking and enterprise coverage while writing for papers in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. His most recent award was for business writing in this year's Florida Press Association's Better Weekly Newspaper Contest.

Yet if you were to ask him, he'd probably have traded his pen for a guitar pick. “I'd rather be playing guitar, but there's no money in that unless your last name is Clapton or Mayer,” he posted on his Facebook page.

Cronan, the Review's Tampa Bay editor, died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 47.

A native of Pleasant Grove, Ala., and a graduate of the University of Alabama, Carl held fast to his Alabama drawl, never refraining from addressing groups as “y'all.”

Carl's reporting expertise was commercial real estate, a topic he covered for almost 15 years at the Lakeland Ledger and the Tampa Bay Business Journal. He worked as the editor of Real Estate Florida magazine before joining the Gulf Coast Business Review's staff last year as its Tampa Bay editor.

Alexis Muellner, one of his colleagues at the Tampa Bay Business Journal, says Carl enjoyed doing his job, and he did it well. “He took joy in adopting the stance of a critical thinker,” Muellner says. “He didn't trust everything he heard, and delivered what he committed to. His presence here helped alleviate my stress coming into a new newsroom, in part, because he was so reliable and knew his beat so well.”

Sources agreed. David Sobelman, executive vice president of Calkain Companies Inc., a commercial real estate firm, recalls first meeting Carl when Sobelman moved to Tampa to set up an office for his company. Sobelman wanted to meet the local real estate reporters, and invited Carl to lunch.

Sobelman says his past experiences with reporters made him guarded when they met, but Carl quickly put him at ease with his laid-back and friendly nature. “I left the lunch thinking, 'What a genuinely nice guy,'” Sobelman says. “I knew we were going to be able to work together for a long time.”

Sobelman says everyone in commercial real estate knew and respected Carl, as much for his fun personality as his knowledge of the industry. “He knew exactly what questions to ask, what transactions had happened and what trends were occurring,” Sobelman says. “More importantly, I felt like he was an anomaly for his profession because of his ability to build genuine and solid relationships.”

Roselle Cronan, Carl's wife, says he was always being stopped by people who wanted to say hello. “We couldn't go out anywhere without him knowing someone,” she says.

During the more than a year he spent at the Review, Carl covered everything from tourism trends to the Review's Entrepreneur of the Year winner. But he always tried to sneak in his love for sports or music when he could. Whether it was an upcoming music festival or the latest on the Tampa Bay Rays, you could count on Carl to find the business side of the story just so he could write a little about rock 'n' roll or baseball.

In fact, his last story in the Review was on Tampa Bay Buccaneer turned restaurateur Lee Roy Selmon and his chain of restaurants. Sports and business: He would be pleased.

No matter the situation, Carl's work ethic, professionalism and optimistic attitude prevailed. Despite his struggles of cancer treatments, he wanted to keep working. He did, up until his last day.

Yet as much as Carl enjoyed reporting, playing guitars and cheering his Alabama Crimson Tide, those paled to the love he showed for his wife of five years, Roselle.

“I married the sweetest, kindest soul I've ever known,” he wrote on his Facebook for their fifth anniversary in May.

The couple met at a University of Alabama local alumni event. They quickly discovered they shared more than an alma mater: Before moving to Tampa, Roselle was the business editor for the Charlotte Sun in Port Charlotte. It turns out they also had both worked at the Decatur Daily in Alabama. “We just hit it off right away,” Roselle Cronan says.

She says she knew she had a keeper in the man she describes as kind, generous and funny.

“He really cared, and that was reflected in everything he did, whether it was writing stories or whatever,” Roselle Cronan says. “He was always a professional. He was a great husband, and he cared about his family, his job, and of course, his Alabama Tide.”

Carl is survived by his wife, Roselle; his mother, Gail Allcorn, and her partner, Jerry Stough; his brother, Chris Cronan; his sister, Lisa Cronan; and his cat, Cleo.

A memorial service will be held for Carl in Tampa. Details are to be announced.