Goodbye to a Legend

My world got a little smaller this morning when I read about the passing of esteemed sound engineer and author Stephen St. Croix.  Born Steven Curtis Marshall, he took his pen-name because of his love for the Caribbean island.

Few outside of the industry knew him, but Stephen had an extraordinary impact on so many through the technologies that he developed.  Technologies that helped create Darth Vader’s voice, extract dialog from the Nixon tapes and provided crisp audio to the re-mastered release of Gone with the Wind.  The Washington Post has a good write-up.

Stephen’s impact on me and his other faithful readers was more personal  however.  He started writing a column (The Fast Lane) for Mix magazine in 1988.  I began reading him a few years later and have been looking for his three pages of wisdom about technology and life each month ever since.

In 2001, he was diagnosed with terminal melanoma, and wrote a column to say goodbye to his readers. I’ll quote from the opening paragraph:  “You, my readers have been my extended family for decades.  In fact, I have never actually written a column, I have simply been writing personal letters to you since the beginning.”

Although I corresponded with Stephen by email only once about bit-resolution a few years back, I - like most of his readers - really felt that same connection.

Stephen - you will be missed terribly.  Thank you for sharing.