F. Ronald Fraley

F. Ronald Fraley, longtime Tampa attorney and trial lawyer, passed away on Sunday, August 16, 2026, at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Florida, with his family by his side. He was 94.

Floyd Ronald Fraley was born on December 16, 1931, in Steubenville, Ohio, to Floyd E. “Jake” Fraley and Anna Margaret Roth Fraley.

Ron attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, on a football scholarship and graduated in 1953. A gifted and fiercely competitive athlete, he competed in football, basketball, baseball, and lacrosse at Kenyon and was later inducted into the Kenyon College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. While at Kenyon, he also took to the stage, playing the title role in a college production of Billy Budd.

Following his graduation from Kenyon, Ron served for two years in the United States Marine Corps. He trained at Parris Island and was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he continued playing football as a member of the Marine football team.

After completing his military service, Ron attended the University of Michigan Law School, receiving his law degree in 1958. That same year, he moved to Tampa and was admitted to The Florida Bar, beginning a career as a trial lawyer that would span more than five decades.

Ron joined the Tampa law firm of Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings & Evans, where he practiced for 33 years. In 1991, he left the firm to establish Fraley & Fraley, P.A. His accomplishments as a trial lawyer included election as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He also received Martindale-Hubbell's AV Preeminent peer rating for professional ability and ethical standards.

Ron approached much of life with the same competitive spirit he brought to football. Some who knew him called him “Fearless.” He loved playing sports with his children and their friends and continued doing so long after most men would have moved to the sidelines. Even into his 50s, he might look through the back door of his Tampa home, see his sons and their friends playing basketball on the backyard court, put on his black high-top sneakers and head outside to join the game, sometimes competing against players young enough to be his sons.

When asked late in life when he had felt most completely himself, his answer was playing linebacker—waiting for a runner to come through the line and meeting him head-on. Football captured qualities that remained part of him throughout his life: competitiveness, courage, physical confidence and an unwillingness to back away from a challenge.

His competitive interests extended well beyond football and basketball. Ron was an avid golfer, hunter, and fisherman. He was a member of Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club for more than 58 years and spent countless hours on the golf course with family and friends.

Ron was also an avid and wide-ranging reader. He had a particular fascination with the history of World War II and developed an extensive knowledge of its campaigns, especially the war in the Pacific. He loved conversation and debate and was sufficiently well-read that there were few subjects on which he was unwilling to engage. He remained a devoted Michigan Wolverine throughout his life. His affection for his alma mater was unmistakable, and Michigan's maize and blue were never difficult to find around him.

Those who knew Ron also knew another side of his strength. He was honest, courageous, creative, thoughtful, and intensely loyal to his family and friends. When friends or family faced difficult problems, they often came to Ron. He listened, questioned, weighed the competing sides and gave his judgment. His courtroom instincts did not end at the courthouse door.

Ron was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Nancy Fair Fraley, who died in 2016; his son, Jake Fraley; his brother, Howard Earl Fraley; and his sister, Sandra Hagerty.

He is survived by his children, Anne Marie Abdoney, Florence Foster, Ronald W. Fraley, Douglas M. Fraley, Gregory P. Fraley and Mitchell Fraley; his grandchildren, Robert, Caitlin, Carol Marie, Emerson, Grant, Clair, Adam, Olivia, Jack, Wilson, Anna Cate, Annabelle, Mary Grace, Brook Lyn and Luke; and his great-grandchildren, Whitney and Chester.

Ron remained fully engaged in life—competing, reading, arguing, thinking, playing, practicing law and caring for the people around him. To his family, perhaps the most enduring image is a simple one: Ron looking through the back door, seeing a basketball game underway, putting on his black high-tops and heading outside. There was a game being played, and he wanted to be in it.

A private service to celebrate Ron’s life will be held in Tampa at Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Florida Mortuary. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to Mary Lee’s House, 2806 North Armenia Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33607.