It is with sincere sadness that we report the death of Food Engineering Contributing Editor Bill Friend. Bill wrote a monthly column called Managing Software plus feature articles on application software.

Bill was known for his down-to-earth nature, great sense of humor, positive attitude and strong religious faith. True to his name, Bill remained a friend to Food Engineering for nearly a decade as a frequent speaker at FE conferences and as an interview source for many feature articles. In 2002 he become a Food Engineering contributing editor.

He worked as a food industry executive for over 20 years, most recently as Vice President of Logistics and Vice President of IT at J.R. Simplot. Bill was active in the food industry and served on the boards of the National Frozen Foods Association and the Northwest Food Processing Association. He was a popular and frequent speaker at industry events.

Bill died in early August 2003 after a short illness. He will be greatly missed.