EC was an interesting, knowledgeable correspondent with many a novel take on race analysis who had a healthy scepticism (verging on an unhealthy cynicism) for conventional received wisdom. For that he was worthy of applause.
I will second those sentiments. At times I think he allowed others to wind him up too easily, but he was one of the few posters I always read when I first joined the forum and he personally was very helpful for me when I contacted him about compiling speed figures.