Tom Kelly, former Sun Sentinel writer, dies at 84

Tom Kelly, a former editor in chief of the Palm Beach Post and an editorial writer for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, died Sunday. He was 84.

A founding member of the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, Kelly played an active role in its creation and served as president of the organization, which hosts speeches, debates and other events around politics and public affairs.

Kelly was managing editor of the Palm Beach Post from 1973-76 under Ray Mariotti,

then became editor in chief until he left in 1987. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was an editorial writer at the Sun Sentinel, where he wrote about the fall of the Soviet

Union and other international and local topics.

“Tom was an excellent writer and an excellent editor, and he also was so well connected with, particularly Palm Beach County, where we circulated, but he also had a solid understanding of issues in the state and the country and, as a matter of fact, the world,” said Kingsley Guy, the editorial page editor at the Sun Sentinel from 1993 to 2006.

“We sent him a couple of times during the glasnost-era to the Soviet Union because he had great knowledge of the Soviet Union and Russia during that time,” Guy continued. “He had that scope. From the most local of issues to the international movements and the international dynamics that were going on in that important time in history.”

In 1990, Kelly was named runner-up in the editorial writing category of the 1989 Distinguished Writing Awards by the American Society of Newspaper Editors for stories that included Ronald Reagan’s trip to Japan, Key West “going yuppie” and the crumbling of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe. Kelly also served as a judge in at least one local high school journalism contest.

Kelly received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Lehigh University in 1958.

An avid tennis player,

Kelly spent considerable time on the courts when not in the newsroom.

Cheryl Crowley, who worked as Kelly’s administrative assistant, started a public relations firm that represented the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.

For its 40th anniversary event, she she found a column that Kelly wrote about its one-year anniversary.

“I invited Tom to come to the 40th anniversary celebration and he was just thrilled,” Crowley said. “He loved every minute of it. I was so glad he could be there to be a part of that. It was a really nice moment, and I was so glad I could bring that recognition to him as one of the founding members.”

Earl Maucker, former managing editor and editor in chief of the Sun Sentinel, described Kelly as a “gem of a guy.”

“Journalism has lost a true friend in Tom Kelly,” Maucker said. “He was a consummate professional. Always a gentleman.”

Kelly is survived by his wife, Donna; their son, Tommy; and one son from a previous marriage.

Kelly