With great sadness, I need to announce that Eric Altshule, a blogger for EPL Talk and MLS Talk, died this past Wednesday in Los Angeles from a massive heart attack. Eric is survived by his wife and two beautiful young daughters.

Eric’s brother said that “Eric was a passion­ate soccer fan, and loved more than any­thing contributing to [MLS Talk and EPL Talk]. Please pass this sad news on to your read­ers, and we sincerely thank you for the opportunity to let Eric participate in your web blog. His pas sion for soccer is some­thing we will keep in our family forever.”

Eric was a regular blogger on this site and will be sadly missed. By reading his posts, you could tell that he was a patriotic American who valued the growth of the game in this country. And he was also passionate about Arsenal, as well as an avid viewer of the Premier League on US television. Whenever he wrote for the site, you knew exactly where he stood on the issues. He wasn’t a fan of the current England national team. And predicted that they would fail in South Africa while many were predicting they would go far in the tournament. Bottom line, Eric’s posts were always a pleasure to read, whether you agreed with him or not.

For one of his EPL Talk assignments, Eric volunteered to attend the press day for The Damned United which gave him the opportunity to interview Michael Sheen and watch the film in Hollywood at a closed-door screening. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to it, please do. It’s a perfect example of Eric’s attention to detail and how he gave us an inside look at a movie press day.

Here’s some of Eric’s work for EPL Talk, which is an excellent representation of his skillset. Plus here is his articles he wrote for MLS Talk.

I asked his brother how we, EPL Talk and its readers, could contribute to his family. “If your readers would like to do some thing for the fam ily, a small donation to any local AYSO or soc cer club made on behalf of Eric Altshule would be a very nice ges­ture. If more kids participate in soccer, that would make Eric very happy.” To find your local AYSO chapter, visit the AYSO web site.

Eric was a graduate of Harvard High School for Boys in Los Angeles and Georgetown University. Eric spent a decade working on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, focusing on education policy and another decade working in international trade.

Eric, god bless. I will miss you and your passion for the game. I’ll never forget you and on behalf of EPL Talk, may you rest in peace.