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ST. PETERSBURG - James A. "Jim" Kinzel, an insurance executive who led the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg in the late 1980s and helped launch the annual Ronald McDonald Golf Classic, has died at 53.
Mr. Kinzel, who also helped start the Ronald McDonald House in Tampa, died Monday (Jan. 19, 2004) at home. The cause was pancreatic cancer, his son said.
"He was a wonderful human being," said Edward Ameen, chairman of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay. "He was a great guy."
Ameen, who helped found the first Ronald McDonald House adjacent to All Children's Hospital, said he met Mr. Kinzel soon after moving here in 1978 through their work for chambers of commerce on the gulf beaches.
Mr. Kinzel, a former board member and past president of the St. Pete Beach Chamber of Commerce, went on to serve on the board of the Ronald McDonald House from 1988 to 1994. He was its president from 1988 to 1990, Ameen said.
The houses, two in St. Petersburg and one in Tampa, offer bedrooms to families of children receiving medical care at hospitals.
At the time of his death, Mr. Kinzel was national sales director for MGIS in Salt Lake City, a medical group insurance service. He formerly was president of the Kinzel Co. in St. Petersburg and vice president of employee benefits for HRH Insurance in Tampa.
He also was a former chairman of the Better Business Bureau of Tampa Bay and board member of Palms of Pasadena Hospital and All Children's Hospital. Former Gov. Bob Martinez named him to the Florida Hospital Cost Containment Board.
Mr. Kinzel was a member of Suncoasters, the Center Club and Lakewood Country Club.
Born in Detroit, he came here in 1973 from Lakeland. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1972 and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.
Survivors include a son, Adam, St. Petersburg; two daughters, Amy Kinzel, Atlanta, and Ashley Kinzel, St. Petersburg; his parents, B.H. "Red" and Shurley Kinzel, St. Petersburg; and a brother, Mike, Marietta, Ga.
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Thursday at Northeast Presbyterian Church, 4400 Shore Acres Blvd. NE, where he was a member. Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center-Ninth Street Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Hospice Foundation of the Florida Suncoast, 300 East Bay Drive, Largo, FL 33770.
- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.