Eric Swenson, a founder of Thrasher, a magazine that re-energized the sport of skateboarding and helped propel it from a suburban teenage activity to an international form of recreation and a competitive sport, died on Monday in San Francisco. He was 64.
Eric Swenson co-founded a skateboarding magazine.
The cause was suicide; he shot himself in front of a police station, the police said.
Mr. Swenson and a partner, Fausto Vitello, started Thrasher in 1981, largely to promote their business, Independent Trucks, which made skateboard “trucks” — the fixtures that connect the deck of the board to the wheels — and other parts and accessories.
Skateboarding had grown popular in the 1960s, when it became known as sidewalk surfing, and began to flourish in the 1970s, when sturdier, better-designed boards and urethane wheels added the speed and maneuverability that appealed to young thrill seekers. Empty swimming pools and public skateboard parks gave practitioners places to display their daredevilry. NY TIMES
|
