I will miss him too. Other Wack Packers have died, but I think Eric is the first one to die who was born (on the show as a personality) after I started listening.
I began listening as I began my college commute in September 1998. (I did go and see "Private Parts" in the theater on opening night, but only because of the MTV special promoting it and television promos. Quite frankly, it was difficult getting a reliable radio signal carrying Stern at my house, and it was only during the commute that it began to come in clearly.)
Eric first called in Thursday, September 19, 2002, as we ironically celebrated just a few days ago via Howard 100 News. I think I can even recall me listening to that show live. I believe I was driving to a professional development class and thinking to myself that this guy on the phone is out there!
Later, I bought my first home, a modest townhouse. After being house-poor for a while, I began to remodel. I would spend entire evenings painting walls, assembling furniture, varnishing wood shelves, etc. while I listened to the Stern channels. That was around the time of the flying with balloons effort. We all know that particular episode, as it has gone down as a classic. It certainly helped me pass the time with the manual labor.
Every time he called, he annoyed me. However, much like scratching a mosquito bite feels good but makes the itching worse, so too was listening to Eric. Every whine, every stupid demand, every ungrateful retort, and every futile self-imposed ban was infuriating to hear. Yet, I wanted to hear his next whine, demand, retort, and ban just to see where he could take it. The magic that was Eric was the fact that he was born with so many horrible conditions that you wouldn't wish them on your worst enemy, but he was a big enough ungrateful pain-in-the-ass that you forgot about them and just viewed him as annoying having no reservations or remorse ranting to fellow fans about him.
I was there at the beginning and stayed through the end. I witnessed Eric streak across the Stern Show heavens like a meteor for his duration (on the show). Now, that beautiful spectacle has dimmed beyond perception below the horizon.
I will miss that ungrateful bastard!
R.I.P. Eric the ACK-ACK-tor