The hole that he has left in the world is large indeed. He passed away on Tuesday of a heart attack, at the age of 81. More than anyone else, Eddie Webster remade the field of industrial sociology in South Africa. However, his impact was not just in academia, but also in the workers' movement; and not just here in South Africa, but globally.
I encountered Webster as an industrial sociology undergrad and postgrad at Wits University. Later he was my head of department at my alma mater; when I became an associate of what was then the sociology of work unit, my director; when he initiated the Africa wing of the Global Labour University, my coordinator.