Bob Lotane, a longtime political and communications consultant known for his civic involvement and perseverance in the face of tragedy and hardship, died Dec. 5 after a stroke and brief hospitalization at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.
“Whether Bob walked or rolled into a room you always knew he had arrived,” his wife Alissa Lotane wrote in a statement to the Tallahassee Democrat. “He was a mentor to so many people in politics and in life. I will miss his big voice, his love, and his determination.”
Lotane’s death at 67 left people – from political and media circles to his friends and loved ones – in shock and mourning.
Elizabeth Desloge Ellis, an attorney and shareholder at Stearns Weaver Miller, said his passing marked a “huge loss to our community.”
“I had the privilege of serving on two different Boards with Bob Lotane over the last decade, and we developed a bit of an unlikely friendship,” Ellis wrote in a social media post. “Although we didn’t always agree, I respected his love of lively political debates and admired his generosity to both Refuge House and Goodwood Museum & Gardens. I was absolutely gutted to hear of his passing this morning.”
“His memory truly is and always will be a blessing,” she added.
Kevin Cate, founder of CATECOMM, a filmmaker and former spokesman for former President Barack Obama, echoed that sadness in a text message to the Tallahassee Democrat. Cate did media work for Lotane during his 2018 City Commission run.
“We need more citizens like Bob,” Cate said. “Engaged. Inclusive. Positive. This is a real loss for Tallahassee.”
Lotane’s state government career included two stints as communications director for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and press secretary to Florida’s chief financial officer.
He was a former vice president with Hill+Knowlton public relations firm, served for years as board member and chairman of the Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross. He helped build businesses across five states and led charities serving the entire Big Bend, according to his campaign bio.
In 2010, he lost his first wife, Robin Lotane, a former chief assistant state attorney and Red Cross board member, to cancer. After her death, he continued the annual hurricane run she began as a fundraiser for the nonprofit.
In 2014, a bite from a random mosquito carrying the West Nile virus ravaged his body, leaving the one-time marathon runner and avid gym-goer a wheelchair user for the rest of his life. He told the Democrat in a 2015 article that a nurse at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville inspired him to fight despite his paralysis.
“Somebody had to give me a swift kick in the ass and wake me up and say, ‘Alright, you are Bob Lotane, you can deal with this,’ ” he said.
He continued to recover and adjust to his new life with the help of his second wife, Alissa Slade Lotane, and went on to make a long-contemplated bid for the City Commission.
In more recent years, he served as publisher for Our Tallahassee, an openly progressive online publication that aggressively went after the governing majority at City Hall. He mulled another run for office in 2026, but ruled it out before his death.
“What I loved about Bob was just chatting about life, Tallahassee and sometimes the guests on my show,” said morning radio talk show host Greg Tish. “He was always there if I ever needed an ear and when he reached out I made sure I listened.”
‘Tremendously sad’: Lotane leaves political legacy
Lotane was remembered by friends as “a force of nature” and “a force for good.”
In 2017, Lotane announced he was running for mayor of Tallahassee after then-Mayor Andrew Gillum launched his bid for Florida governor, which ended in his defeat in 2018 at the hands of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I thought about running for years,” he told the Democrat at the time.
Lotane campaigned in part on promises to strengthen the city’s ethics laws, something that became a big issue after FBI subpoenas fell on city hall as part of a major public corruption investigation. He said his “overriding goal” was to bring down the city’s poverty rate.
But he bowed out of that contest after City Commissioner Gil Ziffer decided to give up his Seat 5 post to run for mayor, a campaign he later abandoned.
Instead, Lotane decided to run for Ziffer’s old seat — and found himself in a four-way race that included Dianne Williams-Cox, who had run twice before for a Florida House seat, and former Wakulla County Commissioner Howard Kessler.
He got nearly a quarter of the vote in the 2018 primary for Seat 5, enough to make a runoff with Williams-Cox, who fell just short of the 50% mark. She went on to defeat him in the general election with nearly two-thirds of the vote.
In 2021, Lotane and others then aligned with City Commissioners Jeremy Matlow and Jack Porter launched Our Tallahassee. And while the website hoped to play a role in the 2022 races, it went defunct shortly before the election.
Lotane served for years on the Democratic Executive Committee, including a term as treasurer. But he also was a former Republican who got political backing from some in the business community. He also wrote occasional columns in the Democrat that always got the community talking.
In 2024, he created the Tallahassee Institute for Politics to spotlight issues important to him, including that year’s bitterly fought City Commission races. He also was critical of both the DEC and Matlow.
Ryan Ray, chair of the DEC and Matlow’s aide, said that while he and Lotane had their differences over the years, they were on good terms at the time of his death.
“Bob’s untimely passing is tremendously sad,” Ray said. “His contribution to Tallahassee civic life was one of a kind. He was always a thoughtful observer of the comings and goings here in town, and he’ll be missed intensely by many. I was proud to call him a friend.”
Local government watchdog reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa. Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ‘Absolutely gutted’: Community mourns passing of Bob Lotane
Reporting by Jeff Burlew and Elena Barrera, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
