As the 30th year of South by Southwest got underway Friday, word came that Louis Meyers, one of the co-founders of the conference, died in Austin. He was 60. The cause of death wasn’t immediately known.

The Austin American Statesman reports: “Meyers was the event’s primary music booker until selling his share in the event after the 1994 conference. In the 1980s, he also was a partner in beloved local venue Liberty Lunch and managed several local bands.

After his SXSW tenure, Meyers lived overseas for many years before returning to the United States to become director of Folk Alliance International, an annual convention in Kansas City. He left that position in 2014 and moved back to Austin, where he was managing local singer-songwriter Sam Baker.”

Aengus Finnan, who took Meyers position at the Folk Alliance after Meyers left, called him a “musician’s musician” and a leader in the industry.