BURBANK, CA—The martial arts world lost one of its most trusted and influential editorial voices May 31 when John Steven Soet died after suffering an apparent heart attack here.

Soet, recently hired as editor of Beckett Media’s Gun World magazine (the same parent company as Inside Kung-Fu), was a martial arts fixture for more than four decades, dating back to the early 1970s when he got his start under Dan Inosanto and Bruce Lee. He later married Inosanto’s sister, Lilia, who succumbed to cancer nearly a decade ago.

A graduate in the master’s program at the USC School of Film, Soet made a series of low-budget action films, culminating in Fire in the Night, a 1986 actioner starring Graciela Casillas. He also penned the screenplay for Terminator Woman, which starred Karen Sheperd. He joined CFW Enterprises, Inc., in 1987 as editor of Inside Karate and remained with the company in various editorial and management capacities until 2006

He authored two widely popular books—Martial Arts Around the World 1 and II—for CFW’s sister company, Unique Publications, and helped the its DVD unit become the largest and most-successful producer of instructional DVD’s in the world.

He also is credited with recognizing the potential of grappling and mixed martial arts contests as early as 1990. His features on the Gracie and Machado families, both in IK and a host of CFW special issues, jumpstarted a worldwide craze and helped create a multi-billion dollar phenomena.