Veteran journalist Rob Hiaasen among dead in attack on paper

By, The Associated Press

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Journalist Rob Hiaasen, the brother author Carl Hiaasen, was among the five people killed Thursday in a shooting at a Maryland newspaper.

Carl Hiaasen, a prolific novelist and a longtime columnist for the Miami Herald, confirmed that his brother, also a columnist and an editor, was one of the Annapolis victims.

In a brief phone call with The Associated Press, Carl Hiaasen said his family “was devastated beyond words” by the senseless killing of his brother at The Capital Gazette.

“He was the most remarkable person. So gifted and talented and dedicated to journalism,” he said, his voice choked with emotion.

Saying he was too wracked with grief to speak further, Hiaasen referred an AP reporter to something he had just posted to his Facebook page, describing Rob as one of the most “gentle and funny people I’ve ever known.”

“He spent his whole gifted career as a journalist, and he believed profoundly in the craft and mission of serving the public’s right to know the news.

We called him Big Rob because he was so tall, but it was his remarkable heart and humour that made him larger than all of us,” he wrote in the posting, which included a picture of the two brothers.

The Miami Herald reported that Rob Hiaasen, 59, was a warm and witty voice in the media world. He had worked as a columnist and editor for The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, for several years but kept lifelong connections to Florida, where he grew up and worked previously for the Palm Beach Post.