TransWorld SkateBoarding is the magazine that got me into skateboarding, and I know I'm not the only one.

This week the skateboarding community lost an important contributor, Transworld Skateboarding editor Eric Stricker.  I didn't know Mr. Stricker personally, but it's always a shame when these things happen, especially in an industry like skateboard publishing, a sector of business that is very sensitive to our economic troubles.

Last year, one of my favorite skate magazines (SLAP magazine) had to stop publishing on paper and move to an online-only format.  This to me shows that the money in publishing a magazine no longer comes from the magazine itself, so the publishing industry is hit twice-- once by the recession, and once again by the rise of internet and mobile content. 

Transworld Skateboarding is one of the biggest-selling skate mags on the planet, but I'm sure the recession is still making their lives plenty hectic.  The added difficulty of losing Eric must be hard on the TWS staff, so I wish them all the best. 

Transworld Skateboarding began as a trendsetter, an alternative to Thrasher Magazine's 1980's dominance of the skate scene with foul language and dark imagery.  Since then they've continuously to put out visually innovative skate videos and have risen to global prominence, becoming the world's most widely distributed skate mag. 

I hope that Transworld can continue providing their 'mainstream' take on skate publishing as they push through these trying times, because skateboarding should be for everyone, regardless of their age or access to a local skate scene.

There was a memorial skate session in Stricker's hometown of outside of Chicago today, and I hope that it helps all of Eric's friends and family to cope with their loss on a personal level. 

His legacy will live on in the heart of everyone who every experienced his work and was inspired to step on a skateboard-- maybe for the first time ever, maybe just for the first time in a few days.  Either way, Eric Stricker got millions of kids pumped to go skate and he will be missed.

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