Eric Ward was a part of the history of our industry. A true trailblazer. I had the honor of sharing the stage with him many years ago at PubCon and recall enjoying listening to him share tips such as link reclamation and so on. I was impressed by his grace and kindness. Very down to earth.

Obituary here. [obits.dignitymemorial.com]

He will surely be missed by many.

Eric Richard Ward
August 12, 1959 - October 16, 2017
Obituary
Eric Ward passed away to meet our glorious Heavenly Father on October 16, 2017 at the age of 58. Eric was born and lived years in New Jersey, before moving with family to Signal Mountain in Chattanooga, TN where he attended and graduated from Baylor School. Eric then went on to The University of Tennessee Knoxville, was in the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and studied education and business. He later attended UTK for graduate school to study educational and counseling psychology, and Internet Technology.

Eric began his Internet Business 25 years ago. He developed, created and executed effective content linking and promotion strategies for over 1,000 websites. Some of his clients included Amazon.com, PBS.org, Disney.com, NBC sports, National Geographic and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Eric will be remembered for his major positive influence and contributions to the Internet Industry, and was affectionately known as "Link Moses" by his peers.