I don’t have all the details, but the industry icon Ralph Morrison passed away Aug. 2.

Ralph spent more than 50 years in the electronics industry. He was responsible for teaching thousands of engineers all about the fundamentals of how voltage and currents work. Up until about eight years ago, he was a constant presence at the PCB West design conferences.

He wrote several books, including Solving Interference Problems in Electronics, Grounding and Shielding Techniques in Instrumentation, and The Fields of Electronics: Understanding Electronics Using Basic Physics.

I didn’t know Ralph in his prime, but we developed an amiable relationship over the past 18 months as he did some writing for us. I truly enjoyed him — he had an economy with words that I will always strain to achieve.

Last year, he put together a series of articles for PCD&F: Voltage in the GHz World, Limiting Radiation from Logic Circuit Boards, Maxwell and Transmission Lines, and The Layout of Fast Logic on Printed Circuit Boards.

According to longtime friend Dan Beeker, a memorial service will take place in October. I will miss his emails and occasional phone calls, and most of all, his kind words about the role we editors play in helping designers and engineers better understand their craft.