Days before his favorite holiday, FDOT spokesman dies of cancer

Christmas was Robin Stublen’s favorite holiday. He would decorate the state transportation department’s Bartow office each year, dress up as Santa Claus and decorate his house with matching music and lights.

Nearly a week before his beloved holiday, Stublen — a communications specialist with the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 1 — has died of cancer. He was 61.

“Robin was a huge Christmas fan,” said FDOT communications manager Zachary Burch. He was revered in the decorating community, according to a Facebook post from High Country Lights.

For the past five years, Stublen was a part of the department’s communications team representing 12 counties in Southwest Florida. Some of the projects he spoke of included the Cortez Bridge project and and the diverging diamond on University Parkway.

“Without a doubt, he loved every second of it,” Burch said.

Before his post at the transportation department, he was the founder of the Punta Gorda Tea Party and in 2011 was hired as Gov. Rick Scott’s deputy public liaison director.

But for the past six months, he was in and out of the office, Burch said. He had been battling cancer for a year.

“I don’t think anybody thought it would be quite this soon,” he said.

Burch said Stublen would be “missed tremendously” and the department is happy that “he’s in peace.”

“It’s especially sad that it happened this time of year, that he loved so much.”

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Days before his favorite holiday, FDOT spokesman dies of cancer."