Tag: editorial

On Dec. 18, Gabriel Glantz, who had been living in his mom Marcia’s homeland of Brazil, was staying at his childhood home in Kingshyre at Cross Creek, awaiting the impending birth of his sister Isabel’s baby. 

Gabe says there was a knock at the door, and since he was making dinner, his father, Steve, went to see who was there. 

Seconds later, Gabe heard multiple gunshots fired and minutes later, ambulance and law enforcement vehicles arrived on the scene and sped Steve away to a hospital. But tragically, Steve passed away shortly after reaching the hospital. 

Not long after his father had been shot, Gabe, 37, heard one additional shot fired, which was apparently the gunman — the Glantzes’ Kingshyre neighbor Timothy Lobianco, 66 — taking his own life. Gabe says that Lobianco apparently walked back to his own house, told his wife “I did something…and don’t follow me,” before walking back outside and shooting himself. 

Although the Glantz family doesn’t fully know why Lobianco killed this beloved husband, father and grandfather, Gabe’s brother Kyle, 34, said that Steve, Lobianco and another long-time Kingshyre neighbor had done quite a bit of motorcycle riding together. But, several years ago, Lobianco suffered a head injury in a serious accident on his bike and his demeanor definitely grew angrier in the years that followed. 

“We don’t know why our dad became the focal point of [Lobianco’s] anger,” Kyle told me a week or so after Steve was laid to rest on Dec. 22 at the Gan Shalom Cemetery on County Line Rd. in Lutz. “All we know is that we didn’t lose our father. He was taken from us.” And, as if the shooting wasn’t tragic enough, Steve was killed the same night Isabel, 28, gave birth to a baby girl. Marcia, Steve’s wife of 40 years, was already at the hospital with their daughter when Steve was shot. 

Although Steve and I never really “hung out” together much, we became close friends during his several-year stint as the volunteer president of what was then called the New Tampa Little League (NTLL), when we both had sons playing ball at what is now called Eber Field on Kinnan St., just north of Cross Creek Blvd. Steve was completely dedicated to not only running the league, but also expertly handling the inevitable squabbles between parents, as well as always making sure the fields were kept perfectly manicured. He loved the field maintenance so much, he kept handling it long after he was no longer running the league. 

Seemingly always smiling, always personable, the one-time All-American high school springboard diver and barefoot waterskier was, “an amazing husband, father and friend,” according to Hazzan Jodi Sered-Lever of Congregation Mekhor Shalom, who presided over Steve’s burial, which was attended by more than 200 people (including yours truly), the vast majority being New Tampa neighbors who came to support and pay their respects to the Glantz family, who buried Steve only four days after he was killed. 

Kyle was the first to speak at the funeral. “From our family to everybody here,” he said, “the amount of support, the outpouring of love and prayers and thoughts …you don’t understand how much it has helped us trying to traverse through these last few days. This crowd is a testament to who our father was and the impact that he left on not only our family but on this entire community, from Little League to running into him at Publix, I just want to say a most sincere ‘thank you.’ It truly means a lot and it’s just fulfilling to know how much my father meant to so many people.” 

To that sentiment, Gabe then added, “I think everyone here will take how [our dad] viewed life with them into the future. He was a wonderful father, but I don’t think we realized just how blessed we really were. He was always there for us, and myself in particular, to where I knew that I could take much larger risks than I should because I knew he was always there, no matter what.” 

He added, “Everyone knows he was a community guy…friends with and always keeping up with everyone. He was involved in the Little League for a long time. Even after Kyle and I stopped playing, he stuck around for 5 or 6 more years just because he liked riding around on that lawn mower. He put our grandfather Arnold up in that hot dog truck, selling burgers and hot dogs at the fields on the weekends, just so they could be closer together. I don’t know which he loved more — meeting up with people at Publix or sitting in Section 116 at the Lightning games.” 

Gabe also noted, “The last time we went to Publix together was after he picked me up at the airport and he took me to a specific line just to show me off to one of my high school friends’ mothers.” 

He then closed by saying, “In light of recent events, just be nice…love thy neighbor…and if you come across anything you find unusual in the community that you think someone needs to know about, don’t hesitate because…you just never know.” 

After Steve’s sons were finished speaking, Hazzan Sered-Lever named all of Steve’s relatives and then turned her attention to his passing. 

“Tragically, we are all here today because of evil. Evil has touched Steven’s family, his friends and this community and all who knew and loved him.” 

She continued, “Why did this destruction and devastation take place? Where was God? Why didn’t God protect Steven? As painful and as heartbreaking as it is to take in, I submit that God can not stop human acts of evil from happening. The prayers in my prayer book describe God as ‘gracious and compassionate.’ If God could have stopped this, God would have, but God couldn’t. So, where is God in this unmitigated tragedy? God is the source of comfort who is with us as we take the necessary steps to continue living in the face of our heartbreak. And, through this heartbreak, we remember, we honor, and we pay tribute to Steven.” 

And finally, Hazzan Shered-Lever said, “Steven was compassionate, dedicated, committed, a hard worker and a planner. He was a people person, which also made him so successful in sales. But, it was never transactional [with him]. It was always [about] relationships. He loved to talk to people and was an extraordinary listener. People would open up to him like magic. He knew everyone’s life story, taking after his dad. He always wanted to help anybody and everybody. His friendship was legendary and he sought to solve any problem someone was experiencing.” (Note-As one of those friends Steve helped back when he was the president of the Little League, I can attest first-hand to the truth of this statement). “He experienced such joy in interacting with people that he was the mayor of wherever he went, including the Little League, and one of the fields was named in his honor.” 

Steven was a consummate family man. His family was more important to him than anything else in the world. 

“To the entire Glantz family, we can not take away your pain, but we are holding each one of you in our hearts. The love you have for Steven and his love for each one of you endures forever.” 

Rest in peace, Steve. You are sorely missed.