As a newspaper writer and columnist, Rob Hiaasen relished exploring the everyday absurdities and joys of life: choosing a spirit animal, calling his mother in Florida on Sundays, the small pleasures of ignoring the headlines while in the barber chair.
Hiaasen, who had deep family and journalism roots in South Florida, was a rare voice in the media — warm, witty, often comforting. It was silenced on Thursday when he was murdered along with four other staffers in the newsroom of a Maryland newspaper.
"He had a zeal for writing and finding good stories," said Jon Morgan, a former editor at the Baltimore Sun who worked with Hiaasen. "On the darkest days of cutbacks and layoffs in journalism, Rob was an inspiration."
Hiaasen, 59, had worked as a columnist and editor for the Capital Gazette in Annapolis since 2010. But his connections to South Florida were lifelong. He grew up with his brother, Miami Herald columnist and author Carl Hiaasen, in the Fort Lauderdale area and worked at the Palm Beach Post in the 1990s.
"He was a beautiful writer. People liked to talk to him. He was so nice and funny and smart and self-deprecating," said Tom O'Hara, the former managing editor at the Post. "I just loved editing his stories."
Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.
