Edward Yourdon passed away on January 20, 2016, from complications of a blood infection. A pioneer of the software industry, he was one of the original thinkers behind structured analysis and design techniques in the 1970s and then pioneered object oriented analysis design approaches in the 1980s and 90s.
He was an early supporter of Agile methods - recognising that people and collaboration are what make software projects successful and was a prolific author, responsible for some of the seminal works on software engineering and software project management.
He was also a photographer, with images published in print an online.
A number of commentators have posted pieces reminiscing and discussing his contribution to software engineering. These include Hacker News, Oleg Dulin and Slashdot.
This reporter’s personal memories of Ed are of a deeply knowledgeable man who was happy to share his ideas, always prepared to listen to alternate viewpoints and happy to discuss an eclectic range of subjects.
He will be missed.
Feel free to add your own reminisces of Ed to the comments below.