I learned yesterday that Wayne Porter, one of the formative figures in affiliate marketing, had passed away at 48 years old.

Wayne was a friend, supporter, inspiration, speaker, and mentor to us in the early days of Affiliate Summit – those days when we really needed it.

But he was so much bigger than that – Wayne was an important player in affiliate marketing from the start.

Back in 2002, when the affiliate networks in the U.S were particularly adversarial, Wayne managed to bring them all together in NYC, along with a number of affiliates and merchants, to try and hash out a common policy for dealing with adware.

It was a groundbreaking event that got the decision makers in affiliate marketing talking about working together for the common good for the first time.

I think I first came across Wayne through his early resource, AffiliateHelp.com, and he was also a founder of ReveNews. Wayne was on the Board of Directors for a group called Affiliate Union, which sought to create a certification for affiliate programs to protect affiliates.

He also co-authored a book called Affiliate Marketing 101 to help people break in as affiliates in those early days.

In 2006, we presented Wayne with the first ever Affiliate Marketing Legend Award at the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards.

But there aren’t really enough words to express who Wayne was and his impact. Just know that if you didn’t know him you missed out.

He was a hell of a guy and I will miss him.