Bob "Bubba" Turner

Oh, my. Although I knew Robert was ill, I had idea it would progress so quickly.
I didn't meet Robert and Jean until the mid to late 1980's, thru Jean's work as a volunteer at St Joe Hospital with my mother. As a wannabe wordsmith myself, I enjoyed talking with him. My mother and I would send him clipping from the Tallahassee Democrat: "Grammar Man" articles and bloopers. He loved it.
My condolences to the family, especially Jean.

Love you,

Amy Mitchell,...

I just heard about Bob's passing, unfortunately three months after the fact. I just wanted to add my two cents. I had the great fortune to work under his gentle guidance as a young reporter right out of college. In addition to being the nicest person I ever worked for, Bob was a very serious journalist who gave me a long leash to find myself as a reporter. I doubt I would have achieved what I did without his astute direction. I've thought about Bubba many, many times over the years with...

Robert was one of the nicest men I ever knew.

Bob was a kind man, he was compassionate,he was certainly an intellectual, but most of all he had integrity. I saw him the afternoon that he passed away, from his conversation, no one would ever have known he was ill. That was his way,
He will be greatly missed.

To say it, Bob was my Stepfather, but that just doesn't say it at all. He walked into our lives one evening on a street corner in Tallahassee when I was around 8 or 9. He was in town to cover the Legislature for the Tampa Times, Mom had just taken us to see Gone with the Wind and we were walking back to the car when we ran into Bob. They talked for what seemed like forever, I had to go to the bathroom.

A few days later he came to dinner where Leslie, my younger sister proceeded to...

For as many writers Bubba inspired, I'd like to point out he also helped the artists in the newsroom. As a designer at the Tampa Times, I occasionally used currency as graphics/illustrations for financial stories which always made the plate makers nervous. That's a real problem when you're on tight deadlines - you have to get your art in the paper. Enter Bob, who brought me the governmental guidelines as to what was legal and what was not - I never had another problem with the engravers....

His name is Robert, but I called him Rob. My husband always called him Rob, so I did too. It fit.
I will miss him terribly. He has been a part of my life for forty-eight years. I met him right after I met my husband- to- be. In all those years, Rob has been nothing less than a perfect gentleman. He was a good person, and good to be around. He raised my spirits with praise--undeserved, but from his heart.
Rob was a great piano player,but had to be dragged to the bench to play Pinetops....

Back in the day before political correctness was put into place, I was a "copy boy" in the newsroom of the Tribune/Times building on Kennedy and it was a wonderful place in the mid-60's. I recall Mr. Turner walking through with that magic smile and an energy about him that infected all. He was a "Newpaperman." And I knew that at my tender age then.
I went on to other ventures in newspapering ... maybe as a result of him. And others of that era.
It was, and is, a time to behold.
-30-

Bob was exactly the kind of mentor any 22-year-old cub reporter could ever hope to have. I learned about Bob's death today (Dec. 19) from a good friend in Tampa. About a week ago, on Dec. 11, I happened to be speaking with a colleague in Manhattan about the sheer joy of working as a reporter for The Tampa Times -- and I had Bob Turner in mind. I got curious, did a search and came across an Aug. 15 Steve Otto column, which dealt with the closing of the Times and truly captured Bob's essence. I...