One of the five newspaper employees killed in Thursday's shooting at the Capital Gazette in Maryland was the brother of one of Florida's most prominent writers.
Rob Hiaasen, 59, was one of Carl Hiaasen's younger siblings.
Rob was a columnist and assistant editor for the Capital Gazette in Annapolis and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Maryland. He earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Florida -- like his brother Carl.
"We called him Big Rob because he was so tall, but it was his remarkable heart and humor that made him larger than all of us," Carl wrote.
Carl described Rob as one of the most gentle and funny people he has 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," Carl wrote on Facebook.
In the post, Carl asked members of the public to keep his family in their thoughts and prayers and urged them to hug their loved ones "like there's no tomorrow."
For more than 40 years, Carl, 65, has worked at the Miami Herald. Since 1985, he has written a regular column. Today, it appears most Sundays.
In the early 1980s, Carl began writing books -- flooded with ties to Florida.
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