Longtime Tampa Bay media icon Rob Lorei dies

Rob Lorei has been reinstated as WMNF's News and Public Affairs Director more than one month after he was abruptly fired.

Retired journalist Rob Lorei, who was among the founding members of WMNF Community Radio and served as host of WEDU’s Florida This Week for nearly 24 years, has passed away following a battle with cancer, according to multiple social media posts mourning his death. 

He was 70 years old.

Randy Wynne, who was among the WMNF founders and worked closely with Lorei for 35 years, posted on Sunday evening of Lorei’s passing, writing that he was “deeply saddened” by the news. 

“Rob and I worked together to make WMNF for 35 years. I was Program Director, and he was News Director. For 35 years! We didn’t always agree; we sometimes competed in our visions for the station,” Wynne wrote. “But we always respected each other and we worked together to make WMNF an exceptional and successful media organization.”

He shared a photo of himself with Lorei and other WMNF legends, including two who preceded Lorei in death: Vicki Santa, a former station manager; and Gene Moore, who ran membership and volunteer efforts at the station. 

Others have begun celebrating Lorei’s life and mourning his death. 

“The true heart, soul and vision of WMNF 88.5 and a voice so often for the voiceless, even if it was not popular opinion,” wrote listener Heather Yarrow.

Another longtime WMNF listener, Joy Kobasko, wrote that she met Lorei in 1992, volunteering for the station as a college student. 

“It’s a sad day for local news,” she wrote. “He always made sure to focus on the stories that never received enough coverage on the network news. He made a big impact on me, and his voice will be missed in West Central Florida.”

Lorei most recently served as anchor of Florida This Week on WEDU, the local PBS station. Each week, he hosted a panel of guests, including other local journalists, political strategists, political activists, scholars and other experts in various areas. Lorei is known in that role for ensuring balanced viewpoints, sharing the camera with Democrats, Republicans and nonpartisans alike. 

Lorei served as host until March, when he announced he would be stepping down. It was then that Lorei also revealed his cancer diagnosis. 

He, along with several others, helped found WMNF in 1979 and, until 2021, served as the station’s news director. His weekly news and public affairs show, Radioactivity, was among the most listened-to hours in WMNF’s programming.

Lorei was fired as News Director in 2019, over a list of eight areas of improvement provided to him by then-station manager Craig Kopp, including more consistently posting to social media. But after massive public outcry, including tens of thousands of dollars in canceled sustaining memberships — money listeners pledge to the station that is automatically withdrawn monthly — he was reinstated. In 2021, he was fired again, over an email alleged to have used an ethnic slur, which Lorei disputed. Public outcry continued, but Lorei was not reinstated this time, and continued his work as a journalist at Florida This Week. 

“There aren’t many like him and journalism is a much poorer profession without him,” wrote former Tampa Tribune reporter Sean Ledig, adding that Lorei “was always friendly while also conducting himself with the utmost professionalism as a newsman.”

Another longtime listener who goes by the name Krishna Raisinbran on social media wrote that Lorei’s work “considerably enriched my life.” 

“Thank you for your vital service to our community, Rob,” they wrote. “You were a trustworthy voice in our wilderness.” 

As of 8 p.m. Sunday, neither WMNF nor WEDU had publicly commented on Lorei’s passing.