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Law professor, father, and blogger, Dan Markel, shot and killed

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Dan Markel, a well-known Florida State law professor and blogger, died at the age of 41 after being shot in his home Friday.

Speculation has it that Markel may have intercepted an intruder at 11 in the morning. No suspects have been identified.

Family, friends, colleagues, and students gathered Sunday at a memorial in Tallahassee for Markel, who was a popular professor and community member.

Markel founded and ran the popular, PrawfsBlawg. In addition, Tallahassee’s Sean Rossman (@SeanRossman) reports Markel’s articles, essays and writings have been displayed in top law reviews and his opinion pieces have been featured in the New York Times, Slate and The Atlantic. In 2009, he published a book, Privilege or Punish: Criminal Justice and the Challenge of Family Ties.

I did not engage Dan on the legal blogosphere. Those who did spoke highly of him.

From the ten other members of PrawfsBlawg:

All of us here on Prawfsblawg live in different places and come from different backgrounds. What we have in common, with many others, is Dan. His network of friends and loved ones–and he had a great deal of love for all his many friends, as we did and do for him–is enormous. His boundless energy was at the center of this community; it made it run, it gave it life. We are stunned and bereaved by his loss, and our thoughts go to his two little boys, who were precious to him, and to his family. Many, many people loved him and are grieving today. Baruch dayan emet.

From the Bloggers at Concurring Opinions:

Dan was an extraordinary legal scholar, teacher, and blogger, as this tribute attests. He contributed immeasurably to the legal community. His compassion, wit, insight, and camaraderie touched all of us. He will be sorely missed, and his life and work, long remembered.

From Temple professor Dan Hoffman:

…Dan Markel knew more legal academics – by which I mean he had more meaningful conversations and was actually friends with more people – than anyone in the country. Everyone knew him or had a story about him. Even in conversations he wasn’t a part of, at conferences he’d never attended, he was a common point of reference. He was our Kevin Bacon.

……

Dan was a person of enormous seriousness and integrity, who cared deeply for his children and his friends. He was a world-builder without an obvious ideological agenda, unique among the hundreds of professors I’ve met in a decade of teaching.

From Ohio State Law Professor Doug Berman:

Dan was a personal friend, and his extraordinary commitment and contribution to big ideas in criminal law and theory during his (much too short) life cannot be easily overstated. Of particular note, Dan was among the most active and forceful voices seeking to define and defend a modern conception of retributive justice. For that reason and many others, I hope those responsible for this shocking crime are brought soon to justice.

Thanks to Pepperdine Law Professor, Paul Caron, for collecting commentary on Dan Markel, including the aforementioned.

Like I said, I did not know Dan. I do know of the incredible friendship and bond that builds between law bloggers. I am sorry for the legal community’s loss.

God Bless Dan and his family.

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