Heidi Kristine Curran

After a long and recurring illness, Heidi Kristine Curran, 49 years old passed to be “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” on January 13, 2024, in the family home. She had lived there in the last two and a half years while fighting her illness. Her trials are over, and at last, she is at rest forever. She had many accomplishments in her short life.

She was born in Tampa, Florida on 05/28/1974 the second of our children, and grew up in Parkland Estates with a very happy childhood with family and close friends. She was a graduate of the Palma Ceia Methodist pre-school and attended St. Mary’s Episcopal School in South Tampa where she was an honor student, particularly in Latin, as well as some sports. She then went to Tampa Preparatory School and graduated as Valedictorian in 1992 with participation in tennis (State Ranked along with her friend, Margaret), basketball, and volleyball as well as the recipient of multiple honors. Her friends gave her a very happy life with many activities and she often said that her schooling in Tampa was one of the happiest times in her life. She was adventurous with many activities including parasailing and zip-lining.

She matriculated at Harvard University in 1992 and earned her B.A in Russian History, cum laude. She was actively engaged in many other activities including “The Hasty Pudding Theatricals,” residence in Adams House, and a myriad of activities that she really loved as well as the many enduring friendships she made. Post graduation, she traveled throughout Europe meeting friends along the way in France, Spain, Norway, Finland, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Berlin Germany after reunification ended in Italy (Venice, Florence, and Rome), She loved to travel with her family particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland and in California and Colorado.

Her first employment was at Art News (1997-2000) in New York City where she worked on magazine covers and developed an interest in Marketing; she then moved to Business Week where she rose to be associate marketing and promotions director as well as recipient of many awards and successful campaigns (2000 – 2004). Post 9/11 she had a dark period and enrolled at NYU Stern School of Business but illness intervened and she returned to Tampa where she completed her MBA At USF with distinctions in Marketing Strategy, Management, and Entrepreneurship in 2008. She was fiercely competitive in all her academic pursuits but was very loyal to new friends. Subsequent employment was in downtown Tampa, first at the USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) where she assisted the startup as Marketing Director and made many contributions followed by work at the USF College of Public Health assisting in the startup and initiatives at the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative with a focus on decreasing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality (2011-2014). Recently, she worked from home for University Consultants of America working with both international and US students preparing them for interviews focused primarily on Ivy League schools with Harvard always in her thoughts. She developed a great interest in her own spirituality in recent years. Her illness, even though under medical care, precluded her participation in external activities to a large degree. She loved the scriptures and read two verses every day from the Daily Bread Promise Box.

She loved her family – Mom, Dad, sister Heather, and her brother-in-law Jason, and very special friends from Tampa Prep, Plant High, Harvard, and USF. She was vibrant and intense, innovative, beautiful in looks and spirit, sensitive with a big heart for friends, love for “Pop” Rosanio, her grandfather, her extended Caangay family (Papa Deo, Aunt Beth, Ephraim, Alan, Xavier, Cameron, Chris, Joy, and Jason) and particularly Ephraim for whom she served in the role of “Best Man” at his wedding to Christine Richmond 24 years ago. Her family loved her very much and will miss her greatly.

She is now at peace and will be greatly missed by her mother Christine, her father John, her sister Heather, Heather’s husband Jason, her aunts Marjorie, Virginia, and Priscilla, Uncle David and Aunt Ruth Ann, her cousins Ruth, Anne, Susan, David John, Philip, Stephen, and their families as well as Beauty, her cat. She loved her close Tampa friends and loved her community and neighbors.

Her favorite Bible verse was John 3:16 and she professed that she was born again and saved. We will all miss her and place our faith in God that she will achieve peace that we will find comfort in that “Blessed Assurance” and that she is now “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.”

Private Interment occurred at the Sunset Memory Gardens 11005 US Highway North in Thonotosassa, Fl 33592 on January 25 with immediate family and a few close friends with Commitment Remarks and Prayer by Pastor Bruce Toms of Palma Ceia Methodist Church.

A Celebration of Life for Family and Friends will take place on Thursday, February 22 at 10 am at the Palma Ceia Methodist Church 3723 W. Bay to Bay Blvd Tampa, FL 33629 with a reception to follow in the Fellowship Hall. Pastor Bruce Toms officiating. Live streaming will be available with the link https://youtube.com/live/YdsYWcgjbso at the Palma Ceia Methodist Church in Tampa.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that memorial donations for Heidi Curran be directed to USF Health’s Ybor Youth Clinic whose Mission is: “Helping youth live healthy lives”. Online donations can be made at usf.to/yyc For those preferring to mail in a donation, please make a check payable to the USF Foundation, indicating Ybor Youth Clinic, fund # 250196 on the memo line. Checks can be sent to: USF Foundation, Attn: Donor Relations, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., ALC 100, Tampa, FL 33620