Ford was the influential Star Trek novelist who defined the Klingons (and many fans) for FASA's Star Trek RPG.
He died a couple of days ago:
http://www.sfwa.org/news/2006/jford.htm
A Tribute website has been created:
http://www.sfwa.org/news/2006/jford.htm
His bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._Ford