By James Windell
A decades-long resident of South Haven was presented with a proclamation from Mayor Annie Brown at the South Haven City Council meeting on Monday, February 3, 2025.
The proclamation read at the council meeting noted that Tom Renner has been “a dedicated and beloved member of the South Haven community for over 60 years, is celebrating his 80th birthday, marking a lifetime of service, achievement, and unwavering commitment to both his family and his community.”
It went on to declare that Renner’s lifelong passion for photography has “continued to inspire and influence his work, whether attending South Haven High Sports games, traveling to Hope College to capture unique moments for the college and community, or responding to emergency calls with the South Haven Area Emergency Services with his camera in hand.”
Although many know him through his photographs which appear in the South Haven Beacon and on social media, he was associate vice president for public and community relations at Hope College – retiring from Hope College after serving at the college for 47 years.
When he retired, Hope College President John C. Knapp expressed appreciation for “a commitment that may never be equaled,” not only for its duration but for its quality and extent. “Hope College has been at the center of the Renner family life for his entire career,” Knapp said. “He’s been on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, disseminating news of Hope’s successes and tragedies and telling the Hope story through the lens of his ever-present camera with a perspective honed by decades of experience and interactions. Five Hope College presidents have relied on Tom for advice in serving the media, and two-thirds of all Hope alumni have graduated with Tom snapping photos at their commencement. His is a tale of loyalty and love for Hope for which we are all deeply grateful.”
A member of the Hope College staff beginning in 1967, Renner developed and directed the college’s overall program in public and community relations, which included the college’s news, sports information and media relations programs; community programming such as Community Day and Winter Happening; college home web pages; and multiple publications.
He supervised a staff of five and was the primary college spokesperson. Among other roles across his career, he has served as the primary college photographer, shooting more than 500,000 images featuring the people, places and events of Hope College. He helped establish the college website in the 1990s, and has continued to update the “KnowHope” and “Hope Today” home pages up until hi retirement.
Renner developed the college’s sports information program, which he directed from 1967 through 2014. He was the first editor of “News from Hope College,” which is the magazine published five times a year for alumni and friends of the college. For many years, he also supervised the staff members responsible for the college’s alumni relations program and summer-conference program.
In addition, he was league publicist and statistician for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association from 1967 until 2008, and in 2008 was named MIAA historian, a position he has continued. The MIAA established the Renner Association Sports Information Associate Award for students in his honor in 2008. Over the years, Renner has been honored by multiple professional associations, including receiving awards for publications from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the College Sports Information Directors Association of America (CoSIDA), and recognition for service from CoSIDA and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan.
Speaking at the City Council meeting, Brandon Hinz, Executive Director of South Haven Area Emergency Services (SHAES), lauded Renner’s services with SHAES. “Tom has been a long-time member of both the South Haven Fire Department and SHAES,” Hinz said. “He began his service with the Fire Department in 1966, retiring in 1989 as an Assistant Chief.”
Hinz added that Renner returned to SHAES in a different capacity in 2014 as a photographer and through his website and social media updates as an unofficial public information officer. “Tom’s work is truly behind the scenes and a labor of love in a thankless job,” Hinz said. “He never asks anything in return and he refuses to take a wage. He’s a true public servant whose legacy will live on in tens of thousands of pictures.”
In accepting the Proclamation, Renner thanked his wife Carole and went on to say: “I commuted to Holland for 47 years because South Haven has always been home. We have lived in the red house on South Haven Place all those years. There’s no better place to live than South Haven. Thank you, South Haven.”
