Ten Among Hundreds

Steve Bornhoft’s executive editorship left a lasting impact on Rowland Publishing and the communities it serves. His artful storytelling and editing brought life to 850 Business Magazine, Emerald Coast Magazine, Tallahassee Magazine and other Rowland Publishing projects. 

Bornhoft started his journalism career in 1978 working as a newspaper editor in Wisconsin, then in Illinois. He worked for the Panama City News Herald from 1985–2000 and then in bank marketing for a number of years. Prior to joining Rowland Publishing in 2015, Bornhoft wrote for the company as a freelance contributor for several years. 

In April 2024, Bornhoft retired his Rowland hat to explore new endeavors as the vice president of marketing and communications at TechFarms in Panama City. 

We are privileged to have had years of editorial guidance from Bornhoft and are pleased to know he will continue using his words to bolster his community. 

– Paige Aigret, editor, Emerald Coast Magazine

CRITTERS NEW TO TOWN

I combined with writer Hannah Burke to describe species that have recently expanded their ranges to include Northwest Florida. My favorite was the black-bellied whistling duck. (Emerald Coast Magazine, Unfamiliar Species Encroach Upon the Coast, May 2021)

RABBI SHAYA TENENBOIM

I wrote three stories based on conversations with Rabbi Tenenboim of the Chabad of the Emerald Coast in Destin, a genuine man of peace. (Emerald Coast Magazine, Banishing Darkness, November 2023, The Rebbe, The Rabbi And Me and Aspire to Live Up to a Beautiful Ambition, April 2024)

JIM NANTZ

The Hall of Fame sports broadcaster consulted Tallahassee attorney Sid Matthew when he needed help authenticating a list of Bobby Jones’ favorite golf holes. I spoke to Nantz about his connection with Matthew, about his career and his special relationship with his father. (Tallahassee Magazine, Course of History, July 2020)

ROSANNE CASH

I interviewed Cash and wrote a story about her for FSU in advance of her Opening Nights performance in Tallahassee. We talked about her creative process, lyrics in her song “Particle & Wave” and Trump administration immigration policy. “Music can’t live next to hate,” she said. (Tallahassee Magazine, Rosanne Cash Will Bring Her Songs And Sensibilities To ‘Opening Nights’ Stage, March 2019)

SUSAN SKELTON

I greatly enjoyed my conversation with Skelton, a woman who rarely grants interviews. We talked about the impact of Triumph Gulf Coast, which she serves as administrator, and we touched upon her service as the chief assistant to one-time dean of the Florida Senate Dempsey Barron. Oh, the stories she could tell. (850 Business Magazine, 2023 Pinnacle Award Winner Susan Skelton, December 2023)

FRED HUNTER

I wrote about a night I spent aboard Hunter’s shrimp boat, the Miss Bennie. Hunter discussed the risks and rewards associated with his way of life and regretfully reported, “There’s no one coming up behind me.” (Emerald Coast Magazine, Aboard the Miss Bennie, September 2022)

TARYN WILSON

Wilson, a male-to-female transsexual, began her transition while in the U.S. Navy in a leadership role. She told me about having to hide any evidence of her chosen gender from subordinate personnel when she would have them over to her house for barbecues in days before she came out. Months after the story appeared, she moved with her wife from Bay County to Baltimore, seeking a more supportive community. (850 Business Magazine, A Transgendered Veteran Tells Her Story, September 2019)

JARRET KEENE, Ph.D.

Florida man Keene moved to Las Vegas after earning his doctorate in creative writing from FSU. A novelist and UNLV professor, he is among sources with whom I immediately discovered a kinship. We spoke about the experience of teaching writing — something I did for a combined eight years at FSU Panama City and Flagler College in Tallahassee — and dissected his debut novel, Hammer of the Dogs. I highly recommend it. (Emerald Coast Magazine, Nightmares, Dreams and Killer Flamingos, September 2023)

JILLIAN WEISE, Ph.D.

I first met Weise when I was editor of the Panama City News Herald, and she was a high school newsroom intern. Today, she is a member of the English Department faculty at FSU, a poet and novelist. She has a computerized prosthetic leg owing to a congenital issue and identifies as a cyborg. A person once challenged her identity, saying, “It’s not you who plugs into the wall; it’s the leg.”  Countered Weise, “It’s not the leg; it’s my leg.” (Tallahassee Magazine, Cyborg Jillian Weise Speaks for All, December 2021)

JORGE GONZALEZ

I interviewed the St. Joe Company’s president/CEO and John Cohlan, the CEO at Margaritaville Holdings, on the occasion of the opening of the sales center at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound. Kiddingly, I told Cohlan that around Panama City, Gonzalez is known as “King Jorge.” (Jorge is pronounced “George.”) Gonzalez tried to convince Cohlan that there was no truth to what I was saying, but Cohlan refused to believe him. (850 Business Magazine, Developing Trust, September 2022)

One I wish I had gotten around to:

I regret not having interviewed FSU professor, historian and biting wit Diane Roberts whose book of family and Florida history and social commentary, Dream State, is astoundingly good. It has been newly re-released with a freshened preface. Read it!

Steve Bornhoft, vice president of marketing and communications, TechFarms
Contributing writer and former editor, Rowland Publishing, Inc.