Professor Joe Camacho, 51, a Communication Studies professor at Sacramento State since 1974, died suddenly Tuesday night while in the Bay Area.

Sources in the Communication Studies department said he died of a heart attack and had no known health problems.

Camacho, a full-time professor, was teaching four upper division classes this semester, including Multimedia Authoring, Advanced Writing for Video, Multimedia Communication and Intro to Multimedia Authoring.

“He taught film classes and then became an early pioneer in what we now know as the multimedia field,” said Val Smith, Department Chair of the Communication Studies department. “He had an international reputation and did a lot of work in the Pacific Rim countries, including Guam and New Zealand.”

Camacho earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and then received his master’s degree at Stanford University. He won awards for his film work in third-world countries and worked on countless other projects, Smith said.

Faculty and students learned of Camacho’s death Wednesday morning, and a simple note on the door of Camacho’s Mendocino Hall office read, “In deepest sympathy, we mourn the loss of our friend and colleague, Professor Joe Camacho ? He will be greatly missed by students, faculty, friends and family.”

Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater, professor in the Communication Studies department, said faculty members were stunned.

“We’re all in shock, and it was very unexpected,” she said.

Von Friederichs-Fitzwater, whose office was next door to Camacho’s, worked with him on several projects and said that he was very dedicated to his work. Camacho traveled extensively this summer, gathering information for his fall classes, she said.

“He was always upbeat, smiling and happy,” von Friederichs-Fitzwater said. “He was someone we enjoyed being around.”

Camacho’s classes were cancelled Wednesday, and Smith said the department was working to take care of the students in his classes.

“We’re trying to accommodate the students without any inconveniences,” Smith said.

However, Camacho was a specialist in the film area, and Smith said one of his classes may have to be cancelled.

“He worked on a lot of projects and had a lot of grant money,” Smith said. “He was liked, popular and was very personal and easy-going. We’re all deeply shocked.”

Von Friederichs-Fitzwater echoed the sympathy. “We loved him, and we’ll all miss him very much.”