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Hooper: The Daniel Ruth you may not know

 
Dan Ruth will shift the focus of his work from the Tampa Tribune regional section to a monthly piece on the op-ed pages of the Tampa Bay Times’ A section. Times files.
Dan Ruth will shift the focus of his work from the Tampa Tribune regional section to a monthly piece on the op-ed pages of the Tampa Bay Times’ A section. Times files.
Published Oct. 26, 2018

Whenever I make public appearances, invariably someone will want to know about my colleague Daniel Ruth.

And it's not always an inquiry dripping with kindness. Over the years, folks have asked, "Why is he so mean?"

It's undoubtedly a response rooted in the acerbic wit and biting barbs Dan has brought to his award-winning work.

He's a man of conviction and that's always reflected in his writing, whether he's challenging policy decisions or criticizing the owners of the Tampa Bay Bucs, who play in what Dan refers to as "Hellooooo Sucker Stadium." It's always five Os. I looked it up.

Yet the man who graced our newsroom all these years was far from mean.

He always offered kind words and good advice, and frequently regaled us with stories about his days working for the Chicago Sun-Times. A few we heard more than once, but we didn't mind.

Once, I double-booked myself and needed a fellow columnist to take one of my speaking appearances. Dan agreed without hesitation and passed on the opportunity to admonish me for not knowing how to utilize a calendar.

On another occasion, I was tasked with putting together a panel for an evening journalism presentation at the Ruskin Firehouse Cultural Center. If you don't know, the cultural center is 30 miles from the Tampa Bay Times' Tampa office and even a few more mile from Dan's Forest Hills neighborhood.

Again, he didn't hesitate.

It's more than his kindness that I admired. Dan embodies what a columnist should be: a change agent for good.

The editorials he penned with Tim Nickens earned the two a Pulitzer Prize in 2013, and eventually prompted the Pinellas County Commission to put fluoride back in the county's drinking water.

In so many ways, Dan represents the most noble aspects of journalism. Alas, the business-side dynamics of the industry have prompted management to shift Dan's focus from the Hillsborough regional sections to writing once a month for the op-ed page in our A section.

His last column for this section will publish Oct. 28.

We will miss his writing, but we will miss having the man in our newsroom even more.

That's all I'm saying.