Markus Huber, the kind and witty German journalist who helped us to launch The Outdoor Industry Compass ten years ago, died on Nov. 8 at a hospital in Nuremberg after a long and serious illness. He was only 47 years old. A memorial service will be held for him on Nov. 26 in the cemetery of Eppelheim, near Heidelberg.

Markus was for many years one of our best multi-lingual freelance journalists for the Compass and Sporting Goods Intelligence Europe, and a collaborator in our market research reports. He was also a good friend. He stopped working for us a few years ago but kept in touch.

Besides working for our company, EDM Publications, Markus also wrote articles for the major German trade publication in the sporting goods sector, SAZ, starting in 1999, and then for a rival, Sportfachhandel, which he helped to launch.

Markus was an expert in the outdoor industry, where he counted many friends. He established a connection for us with the organizers of the OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen to support the launch of this publication as a more focused complement to SGI Europe at the July 2008 edition of the fair. He remained its editor for many years.

Shortly after the birth of the Compass, he also engineered a connection for us with the organizers of the Ispo show in Munich, allowing us to provide the contents for the newborn news service on the ispo.com website in English and German for a couple of years.

We shall miss him.

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