Former Palm Beach Post editorial writer and columnist Tom Blackburn wore casual leather shoes, short-sleeved dress shirts, snacked on Kit Kat bars and was fond of Slivovitz plum brandy. He enjoyed bluegrass music and strummed the banjo. “He was missing part of an index finger. He said he had shortened it on a lawn mower,” said his former colleague, Jac Wilder VerSteeg. “He was an old-school guy with a new-school mind,” said Randy Schultz, who was editorial page editor at The Post for more than two decades. And what a mind. Stephen Blackburn said his dad could discuss subjects as wide-ranging as aeronautic engineering and Civil War strategy. “He read about everything.” Because of that, he knew a lot about everything.