White Wolf co-founder and co-creator of role playing game universe World of Darkness Stewart Wieck passed away suddenly last week, according to a message from his brother Steve Wieck posted on Tenkar’s Tavern.   Wieck collapsed after a fencing workout and never revived.  He was 49.

Stewart Wieck was best known as the publisher, with his brother Steve, of gaming magazine White Wolf beginning in 1985, and as co-owner, with Mark Rein-Hagen, of White Wolf Game Studio, which published the World of Darkness RPGs beginning in 1991.

The World of Darkness RPGs were a potent force in the hobby games business for over a decade, at times jousting with Dungeons & Dragons for RPG primacy.  Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Mage:  The Ascension were the three biggest games in the system; Wieck was most involved in Mage: The Ascension, on which he received a co-writing credit with bother Stephen.

Stewart Weick was CEO of White Wolf from its founding in 1990 until 1993, when he stepped down and his brother Steve took over.  But Stewart remained with the company through its sale to CCP until 2010, when he left to found Nocturnal Media.  Nocturnal acquired West End Games last year (see "Nocturnal Media Purchases West End Games").

Steve Weick said of his brother Stewart, "He was my brother, my best friend, my business partner since we started White Wolf in high school.  He was an incredible human being, full of kindness and empathy, fun and artistic passion."