I have a friend that has a business who hired an individual to create/host/manage her business website. Everything was going great until the web designer had a heart attack. All of the information was in his head. The site has since been offline and she doesn't have a clue as to who's hosting it. She doesn't even have enough info to get the domain name transferred. Any suggestions? She's loosing money daily. Thanks!

Well it sounds as though it was "online" at one time.
Lookup the whois info on the domain registration and this should point her in the right direction.

As Martie said, you need to run a whois on the site.

To do this you need to visit this site. Type the domain into the box and click Submit.

In the information returned, you will see 'Registrar:'. The name after this is the company who you need to contact about the domain name. A little further down you will see some fields 'Name Server:' fields. These will tell you who the host is. For example, if the name server is ns1.somecompany.com, you will need to visit somecompany.com to find out more about the host.

Make a note of when the domain expires. It is important you get access to your domain name before it does or others will have the opportunity to register it. The hosting side is less important - if you want to you can start fresh with a new host and just aim your domain there.

Also, find out if its a unix/linux esque type of environment or Windows. Once you know this you are a lot closer to finding someone who can go in and possibly take over the operation. Good developers tend to stick in one operating system. Otherwise they will be jack of all, master of none. Also, the web hosting company will and should be able to access the box and answer this question for you. Check the monthly bill and call that company.

Also try whois.sc and see if you can locate some information on the hosting company.