RIP Rob Hiaasen.

In the spring of 1989, at the Palm Beach Post,
I was a 20-year-old reporting intern sharing a "pod"
with Scott G. Campbell, Rob Hiaasen, and Eliot Kleinberg.

Rob and his wife were expecting their first child,
and he was a kind and gentle man. Nice to the intern
from up North.*

I'm blown away to read Rob was killed at work today.

Not surprised though. He wasn't the type of man to hide
under his desk. Won't surprise me to hear that Rob
headed toward the violence trying to take action and
protect others...

Eliot told me about the features desk that summer looking
for a (paid) summer copy editor. Tonight, I googled him
and called the number listed in his profile. Thanked him
for helping me stay in South Florida -- I was renting an
efficiency on Singer Island the summer of '89 -- by alerting
me to the summer job opening...

I'm a lawyer now, not a journalist.
But I support my brothers and sisters still toiling in the trade.
Rob Hiaasen was a good man, gone too soon at 59. That's a fact.

ADDED: "But how wonderful it is to leave in your wake words that are more than enough for some."

----------------
* Went out of his way to be nice
to the intern from up North: "You drive,"
he suggested on the way to Ambrosia for lunch
with other co-workers.

"I want to see what the interns drive these days."

Wasn't my car, I explained. My Dad lent me
the Plymouth Horizon for this opportunity that
Northwestern offered, in its Teaching Newspaper (TN)
programs, where you got out of the classroom,
into the newsrooms, and worked for academic credit.

Rob was a tall man, sat in front, and if there
wasn't enough legroom, he was gracious enough
not to mention it. (Horizon actually was known
for having ample interior space; my father is tall,
and very long-legged. No complaints from him either.)

Lord, I hope Hiaasen went fast,
and there was little pain...

#PrayersUp.