A hornet’s sting brought down pioneer skateboarding legend Andy Kessler yesterday in Montauk, Long Island NY.

Kessler was an original member of the Zoo York Crew and was featured in Deathbowl to Downtown, the evolution of skating in New York. A clip can be seen below.

The Deathbowl to Downtown blog has a wonderful remembrance of Kessler:

He was salty and hard boiled like a true New Yorker should be but he was also the first guy to help someone out. I don’t mean that as a cliche like when someone dies they were all of a sudden a saint- no- Kess really helped people out. He was a sponsor to people trying to kick drugs or drinking, (he was clean and sober for years and years and then one day he quit drinking coffee and smoking cigs to boot!), he built skateparks, went to community meeting and generally tried to make New York a better place to live.

I encourage you to read all of it.

Here’s hoping you’re ripping and RIP-ing, Andy.