{"id":703,"date":"2026-05-15T16:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=703"},"modified":"2026-05-15T16:05:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:05:40","slug":"jane-healy-winner-of-orlando-sentinels-first-pulitzer-prize-dies-at-77","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=703","title":{"rendered":"Jane Healy, winner of Orlando Sentinel\u2019s first Pulitzer Prize, dies at 77"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jane E. Healy, who wrote the thoroughly reported \u201cFlorida\u2019s Shame,\u201d a series of editorials about runaway growth in Central Florida that won the Orlando Sentinel its first Pulitzer Prize in 1988, wryly predicted how she would be remembered after she passed.<\/p>\n

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When the honor was announced, she quipped to co-workers, \u201cWell, now we know what the first line of my obituary will say.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Healy, who died Friday at home under hospice care at age 77, was much more than an award-winner for the newspaper and the Orlando community, said L. John Haile, who served as the Sentinel\u2019s editor for 15 years and promoted her in 1994 to oversee a staff of 380.<\/p>\n

She succumbed to a rare blood disorder known as MDS, myelodysplastic syndrome, which she said had also caused her mother\u2019s death. MDS is a group of disorders caused by blood cells that are poorly formed or don\u2019t work properly, according to an overview on mayoclinic.org.<\/p>\n

\u201cJane was a remarkable person and, without a doubt, one of the best journalists I ever worked with,\u201d said Haile, whose staff went on to win two more Pulitzers. \u201cShe believed a newspaper had an obligation not just to cover the news without fear or favor but to use its editorial voice to lead and to hold public officials accountable\u2026She wanted Orlando and Florida to be all they could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

A daughter of a longtime White House correspondent, Healy, born in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and graduated in 1971 from the University of Maryland. She began a 40-year journalism career with a job as a copy aide in the Washington bureau of the New York Daily News. She quickly amassed a story portfolio impressive enough to persuade the Sentinel to hire her in 1973 as a metro reporter, covering local government and politics.<\/p>\n

She was added to the editorial board in 1981 and was named editorial page editor in 1985, holding that job for nine years before her move to head the newsroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was fearless and laser focused in fighting to keep growth from destroying the very things that made people want to come here,\u201d Haile said. \u201cShe brought a rare perspicacity to the job that let her see through all the arguments and the clutter to what was really being said and why. Rarely did anything get past her. Jane lived and breathed Orlando and her editorials and, later, her columns were powerful because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He cited her forceful arguments that residents should not have to pay for services and construction needed to support Orlando\u2019s tourism. Healy believed the hotel tax funding local tourism marketing should foot more of the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe particularly wanted the largess of the tourist tax to help pay for infrastructure and social services and she continued to fight for that even in retirement and after she became ill,\u201d Haile said. \u201cOne of her early battles was to make sure the first Orlando arena was built downtown as had been promised when voters approved the tourist tax. That was huge in securing the future of downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Healy welcomed friends at her home though she was growing weaker over the last several weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cJane faced her terminal diagnosis with immense calm and courage,\u201d said Linda Chapin, Orange County mayor from 1990 to 1998 and, after her time in public office, a close friend of Healy\u2019s. \u201cShe has always dealt with facts above all else. The classic reporter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Michael Griffin, now senior vice president for advocacy and public policy at AdventHealth, worked with Healy at the newspaper for nearly a quarter century, serving on the Sentinel editorial board while Healy led the panel. He described her as a demanding but deft editor.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe held people to the same standard she held herself to,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got stuff done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griffin\u00a0said the Sentinel was \u201cthe conscience of Orlando\u201d when Healy steered its editorial pages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can be really candid, Jane could come off as kind of hard, very guarded,\u201d he said. \u201cBut she didn\u2019t care about being popular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Healy, editorial writers had to defend their opinions to the editorial board before they were published, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always made our stuff better,\u201d Griffin said.<\/p>\n

After eight years as the newspaper\u2019s managing editor, she returned to the editorial pages.<\/p>\n

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There she earned recognition again, this time as a Pulitzer finalist in 2007 for authoring an update of her prize-winning work, which focused on growth management problems in Central Florida and highlighted polluted waterways, traffic and other consequences of overdevelopment.<\/p>\n

Healy retired from the Sentinel in 2008 but continued to write a Sunday politics column titled \u201cFeet to the Fire.\u201d A tagline at the end of each column encouraged readers to email her about public officials who needed to be held accountable to fulfill a promise or duty.<\/p>\n

Orlando native Toni Jennings, a lifelong Republican who was Florida\u2019s first female lieutenant governor and a two-time state Senate president, considered Democrat Healy a friend, though the friendship flourished more \u201cafter both of us were not doing the jobs we had always done.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were born the same month of the same year and got together for mutual birthday luncheons to catch up.<\/p>\n

Jennings, a member of the Florida Women\u2019s Hall of Fame, said people sat up and took notice when Healy won the Pulitzer.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe knew what she was talking and writing about because she had researched it, she had reported it,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cShe was fair and factual \u2014 that\u2019s all I will ever ask of anybody in the reporting business \u2014 and that\u2019s what she was. I\u2019ll add this, too: She was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennings said Healy\u2019s work in the 1980\u2019s, 90\u2019s and early 2000\u2019s\u00a0 \u201cquite literally helped shape the community we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March 2023, Healy and Tony Jenkins of Florida Blue were named as co-chairs of a task force created by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings to examine potential uses of future Tourist Development Tax revenues. She was chosen in part because of her familiarity with the tax, also known as a resort tax, which was debated then created in the late 1970\u2019s when she covered county government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to take a look at the uses of TDT revenue and input from the community is imperative,\u201d Demings said in announcing the panel. \u201cWe are grateful that Jane and Tony have agreed to share their leadership and deep knowledge of the Central Florida community to this task force as it considers new projects or opportunities for TDT funding that will benefit Orange County and its residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The task force recommended six projects for TDT funding, including nearly $600 million in improvements to the Orange County Convention Center and $400 million worth of upgrades to Camping World Stadium intended to enhance the venue and help it land more marquee concerts and events.<\/p>\n

But Healy also suggested the mayor and commissioners recommend the Legislature let all counties impose a 1% local \u201cTourist Impact Tax\u201d with revenues earmarked for needs other than tourism promotion \u2014 in Orange County\u2019s case to fund desperately needed affordable housing.<\/p>\n

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Orange County TDT task force members offer other spending ideas<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n