2013 Summer Newsletter

A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO A GOOD FRIEND

On Thursday May 2, 2013 at the annual business meeting, we bid a fond farewell to our good friend and Past President Ron “Huggie Bear” Anderson on the eve of his retirement and the beginning of his new life in Arizona.

For those of you who don’t know Ron, he was the 2001 FCIAAO President and the person who first recruited several current and former board mem- bers, including me. Therefore, it seemed only fit- ting that he install me as President at what is likely his last conference. Ron has been in the real estate and appraisal in- dustry for over 44 years, most recently serving as the Deputy for Appraisals for the Honorable Pam Dubov, the Pinellas County Property Appraiser.

Ron garnered the nickname “Huggie Bear” several years ago for the BIG and frequent bear hugs he gave his friends.

Pinellas County shared with me a tradition that Ron enjoyed during the Property Appraiser’s an- nual ice cream social. Ron would walk around the room with a can of whipped cream and ask if some- one wanted any on their ice cream. If they did, he would reply “say when” while squirting the whipped cream into their bowl. As the sundae grew higher and fuller, the (usually) new and un- suspecting employee would shout “Stop! That’s enough! No more!” to which Ron would innocently reply, “But you didn’t say when!” He loved that people would fall for this every year, redefining the term “thy cup runneth over” for the Pinellas County Property Appraiser’s family.

Family is what Ron has become to many of us, and it is with a full and appreciate heart that we wish Ron and his family Godspeed and blessings in their new life in Arizona.

Thanks for the memories “Huggie Bear”!

Article Contributor: Neil “Nick” Nikkinen, FCIAAO President

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” - Sidney Greenberg

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Summer 2013 Newsletter of the FCIAAO