a look at...
Karyn and Paul Tash
Photography by Win Wolloff
Karyn and Paul Tash met on a blind date arranged by the
society editor of the then-St. Petersburg Times. Neither
of them wanted to go. Exactly six months later, they got
married. That was 38 years ago.
Since 2004, Paul has been the CEO and chairman of the
Times company. He is chairman of the Poynter Institute, which
owns the Times, and he is a former chairman of the board of the
Pulitzer Prizes. He also served on the boards of the Associated
Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Paul started at
the Times as a reporter in 1978.
Karyn, who retired from teaching in September, was born in
St. Petersburg, graduated from Duke University, and earned a
master’s from the University of South Florida. She taught more
than 30 years, mostly at St. Petersburg High School, where she
was a graduate herself. Karyn was the longtime sponsor of the
Rojans, a service club for high school girls.
A Hoosier, Paul went to Indiana University, where he
received a scholarship that included a summer job at the
St. Petersburg Times. After graduating, he received a Marshall
Scholarship and earned a law degree at the University of
Edinburgh in Scotland.
Karyn and Paul have two daughters, Kaley, a physician,
and Kendyl, an attorney, both former valedictorians of
St. Petersburg High School; and two grandchildren. Paul and
Karyn regard their daughters as their greatest contributions
back to the Tampa Bay community.
What could you talk about for hours?
Karyn: College admissions
Paul: That big cobia I caught off Sanibel, 20 years ago
What is your favorite word?
Karyn: Kitschy
Paul: Scoop, as in news and ice cream
What are you famous for?
Karyn: My candor. Paul says I consider it my highest obligation.
Paul: Changing the Times from “St. Petersburg” to “Tampa Bay”
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Karyn: Go big or stay home.
Paul: Get your shoes dirty.
Why do you do what you do?
Karyn: An undying passion for students!
Paul: I get to be a student of the world, and I try to make this
corner of it better.
What are your favorite words of wisdom?
Karyn: Accept what you cannot change.
Paul: Grief is the price of love.
Who would you most like to meet?
Karyn: Because of Paul’s work, I have met a lot of famous and
important people. At a White House state dinner, President
Barack Obama started talking to me about Duke basketball.
Paul: My next grandchild
What is your motto?
Karyn: Do we have reservations?
Paul: No whiners, no crybabies
How do you think other people would describe you?
Karyn: Honest, sometimes to a fault.
Paul: It depends. Which people?
What is your fondest memory?
Karyn: When our daughters learned they were accepted at the
colleges they dreamed of attending.
Paul: Delivering the commencement address at Indiana
University, my alma mater. That was the only way I would
make it onto the football field.
What would you like to do that you have never done?
Karyn: Trek to see the gorillas in Rwanda
Paul: Traverse the Panama Canal
What don’t people know about you?
Karyn: In the classroom, I am onstage, acting out scenes from
history with voices, singing and dancing (not especially done
well), but I am painfully shy at social events that I attend
with Paul.
Paul: I start most mornings with a swim at North Shore Pool in
St. Petersburg.
What is your pet peeve?
Karyn: People who phone it in
Paul: Alternate facts
What talent do you wish you had?
Karyn: Artistic
Paul: Play the piano
What is your favorite thing to eat?
Karyn: Chicken Tikka Masala
Paul: Sea scallops wrapped in bacon
What is your most treasured possession?
Karyn: My father’s fraternity ring (Sigma Alpha Epsilon) from
Duke. Toby Krayer went to Duke on a basketball scholarship.
Dad’s ring evokes wonderful memories of him and of the
university that played such a big role in my family.
Paul: My mother’s Royal typewriter. She taught me to type on
it. Her fingers were on those keys. 9
114 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021