Mark Stephens known to everyone as Robert X. Cringley passed away last week

Steven Sinofsky announced that Mark Stephens, better known as Robert X. Cringely, died October 3, 2026 at age 73. The notice highlights his role as a defining technology journalist: author of Accidental Empires, creator of the PBS series Triumph of the Nerds, and longtime “gossip” columnist for InfoWorld. That body of work chronicled Silicon Valley and the PC-era industry of the 1970s-90s, translating complex technology and personalities into entertaining, skeptical, and often irreverent stories. The notice links to an obituary posted by his wife Mary Alyce and suggests donations in his honor to the American Heart Association or the American SIDS Institute.

The obituary sketches a life and voice shaped by Cleveland roots, studies at the College of Wooster and Stanford, and arrival in Silicon Valley during its formative years. It emphasizes storytelling skill and an ability to make technology human, while describing personal traits - curious, opinionated, generous, exasperating - and a life lived on his own terms. It also records painful family losses: Stephens was predeceased by sons Chase and Cole and survived by his wife Mary Alyce, sons Channing and Fallon, siblings, and in-laws. Social responses cited his influence and noted other works, including a Plane Crazy documentary.