[PLUG-TALK] Computing pioneer Backus dies

[Bill Barry]

On 3/23/07, Michael Rasmussen <mikeraz at patch.com> wrote:
> David Mandel wrote:
> > Yes, I noticed that John Backus died.
> > There was a good article on him and his life in one of the newspapers
> > I read - I think the Corvallis Gazette Times.  Otherwise, it seems to
> > be uncovered by the main stream press.
>
> The Oregonian had a 1/8 page editorial eulogizing him.

There was also an article in the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/business/20backus.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

My favorite excerpt is:

In a series of interviews in 2000 and 2001 in San Francisco, where he
lived at the time, Mr. Backus recalled that his family had sent him to
an exclusive private high school, the Hill School in Pennsylvania.

"The delight of that place was all the rules you could break," he recalled.

Bill Barry