I personally lost two friends and former colleagues recently that these
list probably wants to know about.
I just heard from Lynne Jolitz, Bill's wife. It seems he passed away
about a month ago after a long illness. Most of you know he was the
original force behind the BSD 386 development. I know little more than
what I have just reported at this time, but will pass on any info as I
learn it.
Also in other news, not Unix related, but PDP-11 and the computer graphics
world. We lost Jack Burness a few weeks ago. Jack was the author of the
original "Moonlander" for the PDP-11 with which many of us wasted many
hours trying to pick up "a Big Mac with fries" at "Mare Assabet."
[Note: There
was no WWW/Wikipedia in those days to find it, but to look up Assabet
River, so many people naively thought it was a legitimate lunar landmark -
its the River that the DEC Maynard bldg sits]. He was a larger than life
person [his joke's mailing list was a whos-who of the computer industry -
it was an honor to be on it]. We all have a passel of stories about Jack.
I have written separately about Jack a number of times and if you have
never looked at the source to Moonlander, you own it yourself to read it.
Remember he wrote it as a throw-away demo for the GT-40 for trade show [his
integer transcendental funcs are quite instructive]. As one of the folks
on the Masscomp Alumni list put it, 'Jack was someone that just does not
deserve to die.'
This is the announcement Maureen published in the DEC Alumni list.
************************** January 20, 2022 ********************************
Our sincere condolences to Maureen Burness and all friends in CXO and
elsewhere on the passing of her husband, *Jack Burness*, 75, Colorado
Springs, who left us on January 20, 2022. Maureen said: With his bigger
than life personality, humor, and intellect, he was loved and respected by
so many people, including his devoted family. Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1946,
he received his Engineering Degree from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and
was employed by DEC, Maynard in the early days and then here in Colorado
Springs. Many of you knew he had a huge appetite for the outdoors of
Colorado and Martha’s Vineyard and joined him in his sometimes-disastrous
adventures.