Bob Norton, 60, Channel Advocate, Select Co-Founder

Norton, 60, was co-founder, executive vice president and COO of Select, a $75 million solution provider in Westwood, Mass.

Industry veterans remembered Norton as a vocal channel advocate known as much for his expertise as his willingness to speak his mind.

"[Some] guys who are vocal are pretty much spot-on with their observations and are more willing to tell the king that he has no clothes, and Bob was definitely one of those," said John Freres, president of Meridian IT Solutions, Schaumburg, Ill.

Norton had a deep knowledge of the IT channel business, and his expertise will be "missed tremendously," said Chuck Robbins, vice president of U.S. channels at Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif.

"Bob was always great for providing feedback on our channel initiatives," Robbins said. "When we missed the mark, he would let us know, and if he told us we had things right, we really knew we had them right."