Phillyist Editor Dies, -Ist Universe Seems a Little Less Awesome

By Scott Smith in News on Dec 11, 2006 2:15PM

A pall hangs over the ‘Ist-a-verse this morning, as we received word yesterday that Phillyist editor Star C. Foster passed away due to a pulmonary embolism caused by a tumor that had metastasized in her leg and traveled to her heart.

By all accounts, Star was an avowed bibliophile and writer. She was a contributor to five blogs on subjects as diverse as horror movies and technology. Of her love of books, this weekend an ex- wrote: “If you cut her, pages would fly out of the wound.” In between writing and reading, Genzano says she’d often be found dancing, pirating “or starring in an indie horror film.”

Several bloggers posted tributes to her this weekend and their posts are tinged with sadness over having lost someone they love so quickly and at a relatively young age. But many also noted her zeal for life, and true to that spirit, one of her last posts at Phillyist was recommending some cheap, fun weekend outings for the site’s readers.

Most of us here at Chicagoist only knew Star through brief e-mails, if that. Still, the Ist network – despite its international reach – has the feeling of a small town, where events affect you even if they didn’t witness them. So our hearts, prayers and thoughts are with Star’s friends and family as well as the Phillyist crew and their readers. We hope they take some solace in the idea that nothing – and no one – on the Internets ever really disappears.

Update: Information on memorial services and a scholarship fund in Star's name is here, and an obituary ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer.