Marc Johnson, one of skateboarding’s most inventive and influential street skaters, died at 49. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed. The news was announced in a statement attributed to longtime friend and fellow professional skateboarder Louie Barletta and shared by Thrasher Magazine, setting off a fast-moving wave of grief across the skateboarding community.

Barletta said Johnson visited him in San Jose less than a month ago and looked “sober, healthy, and full of life.” He added that Johnson was “one of the most talented and creative people to ever step on or off a skateboard,” and later wrote, “Without a shadow of a doubt, Marc Johnson was the single most influential person in my life.”

Johnson was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1977 and later moved to California, where he became closely linked to the San Jose skate scene and the Tilt Mode Army. He first rose to national attention skating for Maple and later founded Enjoi, two names that helped define his place in modern skateboarding. In 2007, Thrasher named him Skater of the Year, and that same year his part in Lakai’s Fully Flared became one of the most celebrated sections in the history of street skating videos.

His influence came from more than technical skill. Johnson was known for inventive street style, precision, creativity and unconventional trick selection, qualities that made his skating look unlike anyone else’s. He also spoke openly later in life about recovering from alcohol addiction, and about the personal and financial strain that can come with a career in skateboarding. That candor only deepened the sense of loss among fans and peers who saw him as both a singular talent and a difficult, complicated human being.

The silence around the marc johnson cause of death leaves the skate world with an immediate question, but the facts already point to a larger truth: one of the sport’s defining creative voices is gone, and the body of work he leaves behind is what will now carry his name forward. Barletta said it best in another line from the tribute: “Everything he did was art.”