Bill Byrns died this morning of an apparent heart attack.
He was the outdoors editor/writer, among a multitude of other roles, for The Daily Journal.
Mr. Byrns put out what thousands of us came to value as a Friday ritual, reading the more than a page of outdoors coverage in The Daily Journal.
I thought he put out the most visually interesting outdoors page in a daily newspaper in Illinois. That's about as high a praise as I can give.
Mr. Byrns was a pro: a newspaperman, a reporter and photographer of note.
It is a great loss to the outdoors community of Illinois, an even greater one for those of us who think of the Kankakee River Valley as something special.
Click here for a more extended take on the life and work of Mr. Byrns, who did much work for conservation in the Kankakee area.
A profoundly sad day for this region.
I can't envision anybody filling Bill's shoes.
Prayers lifted up for his family.
He will be missed, a champion of the Kankakee River that he loved.
I appreciated your comments in the Daily Journal article today.
I'll be at the wake tomorrow.