I believe Maple's name was Jim Burke.
The story of his passing, as I recall it from reading an
Amazing Heroes from the very early 1990's, is that he was walking into his comic shop when he had his fatal heart attack.
I'm one of those guys who'd flip to the back of the book and look for his letters before reading the story, too!
I'm just glad so many editors loved his stuff as much as we did!
RIP, Mr. Burke.