Paul McKenna, the owner of Starship Restaurant and Catering in Forest Park, said he’ll always remember Edward Vincent’s insatiable curiosity.
“He always wanted to know more about whatever he was looking at — whether it was a rock he picked up in the woods or an opera,” McKenna said.
Vincent, 63, who died on Saturday, Oct. 3, channeled that curiosity into publishing online neighborhood news websites before online news was in vogue. His two publications — Oak Park Journal and Forest Park Journal — attracted a dedicated readership and eventually a small band of contributors.
“He was pretty cutting edge,” said McKenna, who along with advertising on Oak Park Journal also wrote movie, drama and music reviews for the site. “He was one of the first neighborhood newspapers online.”
“Ed also built my first website. This is going back about 15 years, before people had websites and before it was new to people; before you do all the sort of stuff we can do now,” McKenna said.
Vincent also built a website for his childhood friend Richard Holmes, the owner of Gunzo’s Hockey Headquarters, also in River Forest. The two men grew up together in Oak Park, with Holmes often accompanying Vincent and his father on family trips.
“We went to grammar school together. His father used to take us to museums and out to different things,” Holmes said. “Ed was a wonderful person. He was a little crazy, but a good kind of crazy.”
A remembrance of Vincent’s life is scheduled to take place Friday, Oct. 9, at the Oak Park Arts Center, 200 N. Oak Park Ave., from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, people should send donations to the Animal Care League, Natural Resources Defense Council, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation or the American Heart Association.
CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com