Stan Flack, MacCentral Founder, Passes Away
I was saddened to see the news today that Stan Flack, founder of MacCentral and MacMinute, has passed away at the age of 42. I was never extremely close with Stan, but back when I was running Webintosh, we had a competitive yet friendly relationship that lasted a few years.
It seems like another lifetime ago, but in the the 1996-1997 timeframe, the Mac publishing community was very, very fragile and faced an uncertain future. After all, it was strange for a bunch of guys to be hitching their financial well-being on the back of an Apple train that was just about to go off the tracks.
As such, I think it’s safe to say we were scared, yet this new publishing medium was addictive and attractive to us Mac entrepreneurs. The competition amongst MacCentral, Webintosh, MacInTouch, Mac Resource Page and others actually drew us together. We looked out for each other and did what we could to ensure that despite what was going on in Cupertino, we’d have a thriving online community
I even remember talking with Stan and the other Mac publishers about a quasi-official association that would look out for the best interests of our small industry. Now that I think about it, I need to scour my Claris Emailer archives and dig up those threads. I’m sure our naivety would make me smile (and probably cringe a little).
But I digress. Despite our brief and distant interactions, I admired Stan and always looked at him and his work ethic with the utmost respect. He had a strong business mind, an ability to execute to the finest degree and a humble personality. The Mac community has lost a truly great talent. Rest in peace, Stan.