The staff of The Fountain Hills Times bids farewell to a tremendous leader this week with the passing of the paper’s founder and President, L. Alan Cruikshank, on Sunday evening, Oct. 30.

This is going to be brief. As of this writing Monday morning, none of us have really had the time to process this loss. Most of the staff has known Alan for decades. In the case of Publisher Brent Cruikshank, he held the distinct honor of calling Alan “Dad.”

We have a brief announcement on page 1A of this week’s paper. A full tribute is planned for next week’s edition as reporter Bob Burns takes the time necessary to share Alan’s impressive life with our readers.

That’s when you’ll also likely see a more thorough column from me. My professional career revolves around words, I’m just having some trouble finding the right ones to talk about Alan this morning. I literally would not be here – calling this community and newspaper home for 17 years – without Alan.

We send our love, thoughts and prayers to Alan’s family and close friends, of which he had many over the years. He will be sorely missed, but we take comfort in knowing his legacy can be seen in so many ways throughout the community of Fountain Hills.