LOSS OF A FLORIDA PROGRESSIVE LEADER

If you notice state flags flying at half staff for the next several days, it is because former Florida Attorney General and legislator Robert L. Shevin died late Monday after suffering from cancer of the esophagus. He was 71.

Shevin, considered by many to be a pioneer of the progressive movement in Florida during the 1970s, ended his lifetime of public service in December when he stepped down from the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami after nine years. He had previously served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from Dade County from 1964 until being elected to the state senate two years later.

In 1970, Shevin was elected as Florida's 31st Attorney General for the first of two terms, and became known for championing consumer rights. He with then-Governor Reubin Askew also pardoned Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee, who had been convicted for the 1963 murder of two gas station attendents in Port St. Joe. after it was discovered that their confessions had been coerced. Their case had also been championed by Miami Herald reporter Gene Miller, who died last month. Pitts and Lee were pardoned in 1975 after the real murderer confessed to the crime.

Shevin ran for governor in 1978, losing in the Democratic primary to Bob Graham and eventually serving as South Florida campaign coordinator for Graham's reelection four years later.

Funeral services are scheduled for Thursday in Hollywood. Shevin is survived by his wife Myrna, three children, and six grandchildren.