In Memoriam: Al Austin 1929-2014

A Tampa Bay Times Forum conference room was a tense place the afternoon of May 12, 2010, and Al Austin, famed developer and Republican powerbroker, was in the middle of it.

Austin, recalls Tampa businessman Dick Beard, who was in the room, held a cell phone and a worried look. The city of Tampa was one of four finalists to potentially host the 2012 Republican National Convention, and the call of joy or sadness was about to ring. Tampa, through Austin's leadership, had tried three other times to land the convention only to come up short. But this time the city won the bid.

“There was a big and spectacular yell in the room,” says Beard, a longtime friend and development competitor with Austin. “It was a pretty amazing moment.”