Tech journalists remember pioneer WIldstrom

Here are some of the comments posted by technology journalists about Steve Wildstrom, whose “Technology & You” column ran in BusinessWeek from 1994 to 2009.

Robert Scoble, who wrote the tech blog Scobleizer:

Steve Wildstrom was one of the nice guys. I enjoyed going to Germany with him, covering the IFA show together. He was a tech journalist everyone looked up to. Look at the words on his wall: “legendary,” “respected,” those are big shoes, indeed and he filled them well.

A reminder as we head to Thanksgiving that life is short and what really matters is family and friends.

Walter Mossberg, co-founder of Recode and former Wall Street Journal tech journalist:

Steve Wildstrom was one of the finest tech reviewers and journalists I have known. I worked with him, and competed against him, for decades, starting when we were both young labor reporters in Detroit and he was with the AP, I with the WSJ. He was as smart and honest as they come, and his weekly columns in Business Week almost single-handedly gave that magazine its first real credibility in the tech world.

He was also a great person, father, husband and grandfather.

Although he had been battling a terrible brain cancer in recent years, I was still shocked a few minutes ago when I learned of his death. Rest in peace, Steve.

Bill Howard, executive editor and senior editor of PC Magazine from 1985 to 2001:

Steve Wildstrom at Business Week was hands-down the best person in the 1990s-2000s to explain to a broad nationwide audience what tech meant to them in their personal and business lives. Steve put his effort into researching, analyzing and writing rather than building the Brand of Wildstrom. He was also one of the decent people who (in public) suffered nobly the horse’s asses interlaced into any industry and never used Tech and You to get even with stupid companies, products and people. Though he was tempted at times, I suspect. RIP, Steve, and we hope you’re in a better place where voice recognition and auto-correct work as they do in the commercials.

Doug Harbrecht, who worked with Wildstrom at BusinessWeek and is now at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance:

Steve defined journalistic excellence his entire career. An exceptionall thinker, writer, and editor. Smart, clear, forceful his mind was a search engine, B.S. had no chance anywhere near him. And such a wonderful family. This is very sad news.

Richard Fly, a former co-worker at BusinessWeek:

So sad to hear this news. No one did more to help me make the transition from daily to weekly journalism and the BW style than Steve. He was such a strong editor, always making your story better and doing it with such grace. All that and he became the office IT guy, too. Just another sign of that wide-ranging mind that I admired so much. RIP, Steve.