Joe DeLuca inducted into Florida Press Association Hall of Fame

Early in Joe DeLuca’s newspaper career, his father shared a piece of advice.

“Do every job like it’s the last job you’ll ever have,” he said.

DeLuca, president of the Tampa Bay Times, did just that. On Friday, the longtime Times executive was inducted into the Florida Press Association Hall of Fame for his service to the state’s journalism industry.

“It’s not something I ever imagined,” DeLuca said. “It’s extremely humbling.”

Colleagues say DeLuca approaches his work with humility, passion and a hunger to grow. They say he cares deeply about journalists and their responsibility to the public.

“It’s not an easy industry,” said Conan Gallaty, the CEO and chairman of Times Publishing Co. “But we’re here for a mission, and Joe embodies that mission.”

DeLuca joins more than 50 Florida reporters, editors and newspaper leaders in the Hall of Fame. The Florida Press Association, a nonprofit that protects and promotes the state’s media, inducted its first honorees in 1989.

After years of reporting and publishing at newspapers in the Northeast, DeLuca joined the Times in 2001. He filled a range of executive roles before being named president last year.

DeLuca led the paper through its battle with the now-defunct Tampa Tribune. When the Times bought the Tribune in 2016, he helped integrate the two papers’ publishing and delivery operations. He supported the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic when the Times reduced its printed edition from seven days a week to two. He embraced the transition to digital news.

DeLuca’s influence extends beyond the Times, said Bruce Faulmann, vice president of advertising and marketing. He mentors rising publishing stars through a Florida Press Association program and each year meets with legislators in Tallahassee to advocate for the state’s newspaper industry.

When asked about DeLuca, colleagues dwell on his character.

“He’s selfless,” Faulmann said. “He cares so much about seeing others do well.”

Gallaty said DeLuca has “a heart for people, and knowing why people get motivated to do the good, but difficult, work that we do.”

DeLuca becomes the seventh Times leader inducted into the Hall of Fame. Nelson Poynter, the namesake of the Times’ nonprofit owner, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, received the honor in its first year. He preceded former editors William Straub and Eugene Patterson, former editor and chairman Andrew Barnes, former Tallahassee bureau chief Lucy Morgan and former editor and chairman Paul Tash, the current Poynter chairperson.

“They are truly legends in our industry,” DeLuca said of the other Times inductees. “It doesn’t feel like a club I belong in.”

But Gallaty, who nominated DeLuca in March, disagrees.

“Joe deserves to join that list of luminaries,” Gallaty said. “He’s right up there with them.”