Media Center - Florida Realtors®

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Marla Martin, Communications Manager
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Palm Beach County Realtor Named Realtor® of the Year; FAR Honors Award Winners at Convention

ORLANDO, Fla., September 2004 -- The Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR) has named Tony Macaluso, a member of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, as FAR's Realtor of the Year for 2004. President Russell Grooms presented the award to Macaluso at FAR's recent 88th annual Convention & Trade Expo at the Renaissance Orlando Resort.

"I'm very proud to be a Realtor and I take that message with me everywhere I go," Macaluso said on accepting the award. "But it's at times like this when I take the most pride in the Realtor family. Twelve years ago, when Hurricane Andrew devastated our state, Realtors were phenomenal in their caring. After 9-11, we saw what Realtors can do. This award -- I'd like you to reach into your hearts and deep into your pockets and let's help those who were hurt by the recent hurricanes. That would make me the proudest Realtor of the Year."

FAR has presented a Realtor of the Year and an Associate Realtor of the Year award for 50 years. Winners are honored for their great individual lifetime contributions to their local board, community, FAR and the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

On the local association level, Macaluso has been active since 1978, serving as president of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and chairing 10 committees. He has received the local board's Realtor of the Year award as well as its Lifetime Achievement award. At the state level, Macaluso served as an FAR officer and district vice president, chaired seven committees and instructed GRI classes for 10 years, to name just a few of his activities. Macaluso also served as an NAR director for 13 years, chaired or vice-chaired several groups or committees, and has been named International Advocate of the Year, Educator of the Year and International Educator of the Year. In the local and international community, he has worked to support fair lending practices, fair housing opportunities, affordable housing and homeownership.

Diana Cronkhite, a member and recent past president of the South Broward Board of Realtors, received the 2004 Associate Realtor of the Year Award. Here's a partial list of some of the many community groups Cronkhite has helped: Easter Seals, the Cancer Relay for Life, a shelter for troubled teenage girls, a home for boys with mental disabilities, Hope Outreach, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, her local church, Circle of Love and the local chamber of commerce. She is also a Graduate Realtor Institute Dean, a Sterling "R" Club member and has chaired and served on numerous committees for both the local and state Realtor associations.

Receiving the Realtor Achievement Award for this year was Sue Flaig, a member of the Pinellas Suncoast Association of Realtors. This award recognizes Flaig's contributions over the previous three years to her community and local, state and national Realtor associations. Consider just some of her achievements: She served as the 2003 national president of the Women's Council of Realtors; logged 80,000 miles on behalf of the Realtor organization in 2003; has raised $30 million as financial chair for a local hospital and is raising $50 million for rebuilding efforts; and has chaired and served on dozens of committees for both local and state Realtor associations.

FAR honored Deborah Farmer of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors as the 2004 Humanitarian of the Year. In bestowing the award, Grooms told of one case where Farmer single-handedly kept a family together. Farmer serves as a guardian ad litem, meaning she represents children's' interests in court. In one of her cases, Grooms said, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) removed three young children from their 21-year-old, hard-working mother when the five-year-old walked away as a neighbor babysat them. But after separating from their mother, all three children developed physical disabilities. Helping the children, Farmer realized that DCF had erred. Consequently, she worked tirelessly to overturn the ruling and return the children to their mother.

The courts agreed with Farmer and reunited the family, even eventually dismissing the case. But Farmer did not stop there, and she continued to help the family on the road to independence, mentoring the mother as she worked to earn her GED and buy a used car.

Other FAR award winners this year include:

Board Achievement Awards: Small Board, Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors; Medium Board, Venice Area Board of Realtors; Large Board, Manatee Association of Realtors; and Mega Board, Northeast Florida Association of Realtors.

Education -- Overall Program Achievement: Small Board, Marathon & Lower Keys Association of Realtors; Medium Board, Realtors Association of Indian River County; Large Board, Melbourne Association of Realtors; and Mega Board, Northeast Florida Association of Realtors.

Education -- Single Program Achievement: Medium Board, West Volusia Association of Realtors; Large Board, Emerald Coast Association of Realtors; and Mega Board, Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches.

District Single Program Achievement: District 6 for its District Technology and Business Expo.

Cooperating Boards Single Program Achievement: Sarasota Association of Realtors and Venice Area Board of Realtors for its Shared Governmental Affairs Director Program.

Individual Achievement: Phillip Wilson, CCIM, Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte-North Port Association of Realtors.

Graduate Realtor Institute Scholastic Award: William Campbell, GRI, Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale.

Florida Realtor Magazine Editorial Excellence Awards: “How to Go from Green to Gold,” Dave Beachy, Sarasota Association of Realtors; and “How to Work with Developers,” Jean Kachik, Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale; and Best Article, “Who Gets the Commission,” Al Leibert, Realtor Association of Miami-Dade County.

Residential Environmental “ENVY” Award: Wild Heron, located on 734 acres on northwest Florida's Emerald Coast between Panama City and Destin. This community strives for a balance between design and nature. To help preserve the lake and its surrounding wetlands, the development helped underwrite part of the costs for a $20 million Environmental Education Center. Judges praised this development for keeping 55 percent of its acreage as open space, incorporating natural features into its design and considering environmental disturbance when locating utilities.

The Florida Association of Realtors (FAR), the voice for real estate in Florida, provides programs, services, continuing education, research and legislative representation to its more than 110,000 members in 70 boards/associations.