{"id":419275,"date":"2026-10-05T15:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/419275\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T15:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:06:09","slug":"a-trusted-neighbor-babcock-ranch-grieves-loss-of-operations-manager-lee-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/419275\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A trusted neighbor’: Babcock Ranch grieves loss of operations manager | Lee County"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u00a0The Babcock Ranch community is mourning the loss of Kevin Reitz, the town’s operations manager who died following an accident that also injured other members of his family<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His son, Brandon, confirmed\u00a0Reitz’s death\u00a0in<\/a>\u00a0a Facebook post<\/a>, expressing devastation over the sudden loss.<\/p>\n

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Reitz served as operations manager for Babcock Ranch, where he was known for his kindness and dedication to the community he called home.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Punta Gorda man dies in six-car crash at Fort Myers intersection<\/a><\/p>\n

\"-<\/p>\n

Rob Arent, executive director of Babcock Ranch, described Reitz as more than a colleague.<\/p>\n

“Kevin was far more than a member of our team, he was a trusted neighbor, a familiar face, and a genuine friend to so many throughout our community,” Arent said in a post.<\/p>\n

To honor Reitz, the community created a dedicated Remembrance Area near the Dock at Lake Timber Lodge, one of his favorite spots for fishing and spending time in the community he loved. The space is open for family, friends, residents and colleagues to gather, reflect, share memories and leave flowers or photographs in his honor.<\/p>\n

This week, lights at Founder’s Square and throughout the community will shine orange, Reitz’s favorite color, as a tribute to his life.<\/p>\n

Arent also asked the community to keep other members of Reitz’s family in their thoughts and prayers as they continue to recover after being involved in the same crash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u00a0The Babcock Ranch community is mourning the loss of Kevin Reitz, the town’s operations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[889,209,211,210,853,28,356],"class_list":["post-419275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-babcock-ranch","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-charlotte-county","tag-florida","tag-lee-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}