Civic leader bidding farewell

Community champion Judith Rochelle is retiring to Texas after years of service at Saint Leo University and for Pasco.

By JAMES THORNER

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 27, 2000

SAINT LEO -- Judith Rochelle, an outspoken presence at Saint Leo University and on the Pasco Economic Development Council, has announced she will retire at the end of the year.

With her business suits, shiny crucifix around her neck and golden angel earrings, Rochelle usually held sway at the scores of meetings she attended over the years.

In addition to the university and the development council, she was active as president of the business/government group Leadership Pasco and a board member at the Dade City Chamber of Commerce.

"We're losing a diamond," said Tom Castriota, a Hudson auto dealer who served with Rochelle on the board of Leadership Pasco. "She was on every committee. She represented the university and the county everywhere."

Rochelle said that at 64, one year shy of retirement, she felt it was time to quit her job at the university, where she specialized in community relations. She and her husband, Dave, have bought retirement property in San Antonio, Texas.

"It's not fair to Saint Leo or any of my organizations for me to get a year into projects and say, "Sorry, folks, I'm leaving,' " Rochelle said.

After living 28 years in Michigan, Rochelle came to Florida in the 1980s. She and her first husband, Jack Horwitz, opened a chain of shoe stores in the Tampa Bay area called Jusfeet.

After Horwitz died in 1984, she sold the business and took a public relations job at the University of South Florida. She came to Saint Leo in 1990.

Until two years ago, when she became assistant vice president for university advancement, Rochelle was director of public affairs at Saint Leo.

"No matter how much work there is to do, Judith has the ability to tell a story or a joke to help relieve the tension," said Bonnie McKenzie, Rochelle's boss the past two years at Saint Leo.

Rochelle was also one of the first women, along with Castriota's wife, Anita, to join the Committee of 100, the predecessor of the economic development council.

"She's a great leader," Tom Castriota said. "She's not afraid to tell you how she feels."

Rochelle admits she will miss Florida, but the allure of the Lone Star State, where her husband once lived, was too great to resist.

"Very few people can say at the end of their professional career that they have the best job they've ever had," Rochelle said.

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