InfoWorld columnist Ed Foster dies

Ed Foster, InfoWorld's The Gripe Line blogger, died this past Saturday of an apparent heart attack. He was 59.

Foster began The Gripe Line as a column in InfoWorld's print edition in 1993, helping technology users deal with complaints about products, companies, and service providers that proved otherwise unresponsive. He continued this tradition in the online medium as a blogger, still focused on helping readers. Foster had worked for InfoWorld as a reporter, writer, editor, and publication executive for more than 20 years.

"We are all saddened by Ed's passing but grateful for his 15 years of consumer advocacy in the field of technology products through The Gripe Line column and blog," said Eric Knorr, InfoWorld's editor in chief. "We will all miss his passion and professionalism."

Foster's son Jeff said, "He was very proud of the work he had done and the community he had built here. He was very engaged in what you all had to say, and we had many running instant message conversations about comments or e-mails people had sent. He was an extremely smart man, and he loved to be mentally stimulated, whether it was a good book, an interesting conversation, or one of the many comments you posted that made him look at something in a slightly different way."

InfoWorld and Foster's family have asked Foster's readers to share their remembrances of him at the blog that he cared so deeply about.