Business management guru Michael Hammer has died at the age of 60. He had collapsed after apparent cranial bleeding last month.

The MIT graduate and former computer science professor was a widely heard public speaker and author of numerous bestsellers, including his 1993 book Reengineering the Corporation, which he wrote with James Champy. Other books from Hammer included the The Reengineering Revolution (1995), Beyond Reengineering (1997), and The Agenda (2001) (He spoke with sister publication CIO when The Agenda was released.)

The concept of reengineering involves doing business differently by organizing along the lines off complete processes rather than individual tasks. The term reengineering has become commonplace across many areas of IT, such as in data reengineering and application integration.

Hammer was founder and president of Hammer and Co., a Cambridge, Mass. management education and research outfit. Over the years his clients included big IT and telecom firms, including AT&T. His company bio describes him as: "An engineer by training, Dr. Hammer focuses on the operational nuts and bolts of business; his work is relentlessly pragmatic and immediately relevant."

Tributes to Hammer have started to roll in across the blogosphere.

More must-reads from Bob Brown: * What "The Sopranos" taught me about technology (plus our Sopranos tech quiz) http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/091307-sopranos-technology.html http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2007/091307-sopranos-tech-quiz.html * Behind the scenes of MIT's network http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/011907-mit-your-take.html?page=1 * What makes Harvard's net tick http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/030606-harvard-net.html * The network industry's most colorful story ever http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/121806-network-industry-most-colorful-story.html * Alice and Bob: Security's inseparable couple http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/020705widernetaliceandbob.html * A brief history of the Bob-ification of the computing industry http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/103006-bob.html http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/102606-bob-slide1.html * When animals attack...corporate networks http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/050905widernet.html?brl * Earthquakes, fire and lightning: Must be a NEBS test http://www.networkworld.com/news/2004/062804widernetnebs.html * For the record: Guinness book open to industry's greatest hits http://www.networkworld.com/news/2004/062104widernetguinness.html * Whirling through the world of propeller beanies http://www.networkworld.com/news/2003/1208widernetpropeller.html