Pat Crowley remembered; visitation Wednesday at Southgate Community Center

By Jay Fossett
Friend and colleague

Funeral arrangements have been announced for Pat Crowley, well-known journalist-turned-publicist and terrific community engager who died unexpectedly at his home in Fort Thomas on Saturday, December 28. He was 63. He is survived by his loving family: wife, Pam; son, Conor; daughter, Shayna, and her husband, Max Neverman; and Pat and Pam’s three grandchildren, twin grandsons, Bennett and Bodhi, and granddaughter, Sloane.

Visitation will be held at the Southgate Community Center from noon-4 p.m. Wednesday January 8, with services starting promptly at 4 p.m. A reception will follow.

Memorials are suggested to SAAP, Box 72040 Newport, Kentucky or Cleo’s Legacy, 5699 Mary Ingles Highway, Melbourne, Kentucky 41059.

Dobbling, Muehlenkamp-Erschell is caring for Pat and his family. Online condolences may be made to dmefuneral.com.

Pat’s workdays were notoriously long, often rising before dawn and working late into the night, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He absolutely loved the careers and the life he’d chosen, once telling Pam, “I know people think I work too hard, but I just love what I do so much.”

If you live in Northern Kentucky, you would see Pat everywhere: having breakfast at Sis’s in Newport with community leaders and friends, working the halls of the Kentucky General Assembly in Frankfort, emceeing luncheons and dinners held by business associations or civic groups, writing press releases at his desk or speaking to reporters on the telephone at his office in Newport, playing golf and socializing at his weekly golf league at Twin Oaks Golf Course in Latonia, or having cocktails and dinner with clients, political leaders, or friends at a local restaurant.

He deeply loved his family, and his weekends were devoted to them. Saturdays were often spent with Pam and their cadre of rescue animals, such Pat’s beloved “Wuzzle,” their three-legged Chihuahua, or “Mike Jones,” the adventurous cat that served as the protagonist of some of Pat’s most hilarious stories.

But in recent years, his absolutely favorite day of the week was Sunday, when he would spend blissful time with his three precocious grandchildren, often documenting these outings on his “thewuzzle79” Instagram account, his only social-media channel. In these images with his grandchildren, Pat was always beaming.

Pat also had yet another, larger family — not just the extended Crowley family with whom he owned Crowley’s Highland House Café in Mount Adams, but also everyone in the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati community who came to know and love Pat Crowley.

During his lifetime, Pat was a youth sports coach at Woodfill Elementary School and other Fort Thomas youth sports teams; a volunteer for various charitable groups, including the annual Christmas Celebration and Dinner for homeless and less fortunate at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center; a regular speaker at business, political, and other events; a golfing buddy; a journalist and public-affairs professional; and, of course, an amazing friend to many, many people. Every person who met Pat were blessed to be the beneficiary of his kindness, insight, humor, intelligence, thoughtfulness, and friendship.

Pat worked for 27 years as a newspaper, magazine, television, and Internet journalist, including 16 years as business writer, political writer, and columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer. He also worked for The Cincinnati Post, The Cincinnati Business Record, The Maysville Ledger-Independent, the Register Newspapers of Southeastern Indiana, and The Recorder Newspapers of Northern Kentucky. His freelance journalism work appeared in Newsweek, Family Circle, American Bar Association Journal, and National Real Estate Investor, to name a few.

Pat spent much of his time at the Enquirer working at the newspaper’s Northern Kentucky and Frankfort bureaus. In 2007, The Kentucky Press Association named him the state’s top columnist and his 2004 series on casino gambling earned state and national awards.

The Washington Post selected him as one of the country’s top political reporters and political bloggers. This week, Sen. Mitch McConnell called Pat “one of Kentucky’s finest political journalists,” commenting that “over a long and distinguished career, Pat’s work in the Commonwealth drew wide attention and well-earned national acclaim.”

Pat also hosted two long-running television shows on Insight Channel ICN6 (now Spectrum Cable) in Northern Kentucky: “On The Record,” a public affairs show, and Northern Kentucky Magazine, a morning news and feature program. He also regularly appeared as a commentator on KET’s Comment on Kentucky and on other radio and TV programs.

In 2009, he and I founded Strategic Advisers, LLC, a Northern Kentucky public relations, marketing, and public affairs firm. Pat parlayed his connections in the news media and relationships in Frankfort and Washington into a successful 15-year career in PR and public affairs. He was the driving force behind the company, where his son and daughter now work. Much of the work he did there was making our community a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

In 2023, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce presented Pat with The Walter L. Pieschel (MVP) Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the Chamber and the Northern Kentucky community.

There’s an old Irish saying that is apt when thinking of Pat and his beautiful life: “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, but love leaves a memory no one can steal.” Everyone loved Pat Crowley and he reciprocated that love in the way he lived his life.