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'La Gaceta' editor and publisher Roland Manteiga dies at age 78
By SUSAN CLARY and CRAIG BASSE © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 A large, stately painting of him in a white suit hangs on the wall. And a special table, handmade in Mexico, always has been reserved for him there. But Friday, the table was empty. Roland Manteiga, owner and editor of the newspaper La Gaceta, who held court at La Tropicana for decades, died early Friday at University Community Hospital of heart failure. He was 78. Mr. Manteiga, who battled ill health for several years, was hospitalized Monday when he had trouble breathing, said his son, Patrick. "As sick as he had been for two years, he never complained," said Adela Gonzmart, who owns the Columbia Restaurant and who grew up with Mr. Manteiga. "He worried more about other people than he did about himself." Manteiga, whose weekly column "As We Heard It" was the bible of political news and gossip, gave voice to Tampa's Latin community through La Gaceta, one of America's rare trilingual newspapers. "Everybody wanted to know Roland because he was the guy who was in the know and would write about it," Gov. Lawton Chiles said Friday. "He could come to Tallahassee and meet with anybody at anytime. He was that important." At his death, Mr. Manteiga was a celebrated man, honored by community groups, invited to serve on the boards of important non-profit organizations and revered by his hometown. But he once was the outsider who took weekly shots at the power structure and the politicians who were his enemies. Despite the controversy he created, he was a gentleman who counted among his friends the prostitutes, bolita bankers and bar bouncers of a long-gone Tampa. He was a staunch Democrat who bolstered his party and a family man who gave column space to the common man's accomplishments. Mr. Manteiga's father, Victoriano, founded La Gaceta, then a Spanish language paper published daily, in 1922. After graduating high school, the younger Manteiga became a full-time employee. He began writing a political column in English. Then he added an Italian page. Finally, the paper changed to weekly publication. He became the paper's owner when his father died in 1982. Today, it reaches about 30,000 homes in Hillsborough County. Mr. Manteiga often proved a magnet for mayors, congressmen and candidates for governor. At night, Mr. Manteiga's rugged features and Cesar Romero mustache could be seen through the smoke of some of Tampa's roaring nightclubs as he sought tidbits about police vice squad raids, pending financial deals and other facts thought to be reserved for business or social insiders. "I know all kinds of people in this town, both good and bad," he said in 1977. He said he might learn about the vices of a public official or prominent person but seldom printed the reports. "There is no story so important to me that I've got to ruin someone's life," he said. "I know about public officials shacking up with people. I know the rooms they use. But I don't want to write that stuff. . . . What satisfaction is there for me? That may not be the best type of reporting, but sometimes it's not necessary to kill a guy in print." Mr. Manteiga is survived by two sisters, Ramona Manteiga of Valrico, and Claudette Scionti of Tampa; one son, Patrick, and two daughters, Victoria Jones and Rebecca Manteiga, all of Tampa; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, 5225 N Himes Ave. There will be a wake at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the church. Interment will follow at Myrtle Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Roland Manteiga scholarship fund at Hillsborough Community College, established to help Hispanic journalism students.
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AMPA -- In a corner of La Tropicana Restaurant is a shrine to a man whose quiet demeanor belied the tremendous influence he had for more than 50 years in political circles and in his hometown of Ybor City.
