Larry Kahn, who chronicled the Florida Keys for a quarter century, has died at 56
Larry Kahn, a Florida Keys journalist who told tough stories with a soft heart for nearly 25 years, has died.
Kahn was the longtime editor of the Keynoter newspaper before taking a job as the public information officer for the Monroe County state attorney two years ago. He was 56 and died at his Marathon home.
Cause of death is pending. His co-workers called the Monroe sheriff’s office to check on him after not being able to reach him on Friday.
Kahn was best known for leading hard-hitting local coverage. He oversaw a small newsroom with young reporters just starting out, so he was as much a teacher as an editor.
He began his newspaper career as a reporter for the Press & Sun Bulletin in Binghamton, New York, in 1987, before taking a reporting job in Broward County in the early 1990s. He started work at the Keynoter in 1994.
Three years ago, he rode out a fierce Hurricane Irma at a public shelter in Marathon. His story of the storm made local and national headlines.
Kahn wasn’t just an editor who made a difference for the community. He was a colleague and a friend.
“I learned a lot from Larry. He was a fire-in-the-belly newspaper man, dedicated to the truth,” said Alyson Crean, spokeswoman for the city of Key West. Before joining the city, Crean was the Keynoter’s Key West bureau chief.
Said Officer Bobby Dube of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: “He was one of the most genuine and honest reporters that I had a chance to work with over the years.”
Kahn got out from his newsroom desk and made a mark on the tight-knit Keys community. He was involved as a tireless volunteer, including at the Domestic Abuse Shelter of the Florida Keys. In the newsroom, he held public officials accountable and served as a fierce watchdog for the community’s interest.
“He was an absolute newspaper man. First, more than anything else, he loved it. He absolutely loved newspapers,” said Andy Newman, spokesman for the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, and the first person to take Kahn saltwater fishing off the Keys.
Those fishing trips were turned into a series of award-winning columns by Kahn and Newman called “Fact or Fishin’.”
“Until then, the furthest out in the Atlantic Ocean he’d been was the length of his big toe at Sombrero Beach,” Newman wrote.
“He really just got a kick out of this whole other side of the Keys, and I was thrilled to have introduced it to him,” Newman said Sunday after learning of Kahn’s death.
Under Kahn’s leadership of the twice-weekly Keynoter, the newspaper was recognized statewide as a community news powerhouse. In 2006, the paper won 12 Florida Press Association awards.
“The Keys lost someone who cared deeply for this community,” said Richard Tamborrino, former publisher of the Keynoter and current publisher of the Key West Citizen.
Kahn also reported news for the paper and wrote award-winning editorials and columns scrutinizing public officials and holding them to task.
The Keynoter ceased printing two years ago, and coverage merged into McClatchy’s FLKeysNews.com and MiamiHerald.com.
Tim Chapman, a photographer for the Miami Herald for 40 years before he retired in 2012, met Kahn through work and a years-long friendship developed. Chapman said when he saw a press release posted on social media from the prosecutor’s office, he knew it came from Kahn.
“I could tell because it was perfect,” Chapman said. “It had the who, what, when, where, and sometimes why.”
Monroe State Attorney Dennis Ward hired Kahn in 2018 after learning the journalist was out of work. He recognized Kahn’s journalism skills could benefit his office. In his two years in the state attorney’s office, Kahn overhauled the website, created a new Facebook page and brought decades of contacts with him, Ward said.
“I think about him and all that he’s done for the office and so many people in our community. I know I’m going to miss him and so will every employee. ... All I can say is thank you, Larry so, so much for being part of our lives. You will be missed. You don’t know how much,” Ward said in a post on his Facebook page.
David Ball’s first journalism job was at the Keynoter right after graduating from Florida State University in 2004. He wrote award-winning stories for the paper, and was part of the team that investigated a major financial scandal that plagued the county’s school district that ended up with the imprisonment of one high-up official and the resignation and conviction of the district’s superintendent.
“Larry had a keen sense for recognizing the most important news of the day, and he ensured his reporters told those stories accurately and concisely,” Ball said.
Ryan McCarthy, a former Keynoter reporter who is now a hospital nurse in Orlando, said Kahn took a chance on him as a recent college grad whose only reporting experience was covering Catholic League high school baseball. Kahn assigned McCarthy the beats of covering the city of Marathon and Monroe County. He remembers Kahn as a mentor and a dedicated editor intent on scrutinizing those in power with tough, but fair, reporting.
“He was a newsman through and through.”
Kahn is survived by a sister, Debi Kahn-Davis, and two brothers, Franklin and Richard Kahn. Funeral arrangements are pending.
FLKeysNews.com and MiamiHerald.com reporter David Goodhue worked with Larry Kahn in the Keys for more than 12 years.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 12:18 PM.
