[TUHS] RIP Peter Salus

[Mark Seiden via TUHS]

depends what you mean by “this” and “interact”.
he has mostly been retired after many years

if you look at this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_H._Salus
you will discover that peter was not just an eminent linguist (by training, vocation and scholarship) 
but was also executive director of usenix assn for many years, so responsibile for a lot
of community building.

i first met peter in 1971, when we shared a group house in santa cruz at a summer linguistics institute, and cooked
up numerous complicated group meals.    he was a joyful connector and a delight to hang out with.

and full of stories, which is why he wrote several books about the history of unix and the early history of the internet.
(he was there and knew everybody, so the books are authoritative…)

at some point peter registered the domain name pedant.com.  he had (and touted) an encyclopedic knowledge of 
facts both useless and useful, so he fit that descriptor.  also a sense of humor that was abundant (and sometimes, as linguists
sometimes do, overstep the comfortable boundaries of ordinary civilians accustomed to using language more conventionally.)

peter was a longtime friend of lou katz (since the 1960s), who told me a couple weeks ago that peter was in hospice, 
cheerful, but suffering from congestive heart failure.  (i cc lou on this).

(peter was predeceased by his wife, mary salus.)

peter and mary’s daughter emily is at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewsalus/
and i believe her current email address is emily at openprisetech.com.

(personally very sad to lose both peter neumann and peter salus during the same week, two mentors, men of infinite jest, and there
will never be anyone like them again.)

> On May 18, 2026, at 5:38 PM, Kevin Bowling via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> RIP.  Did he ever interact with this community?
> 
> On Mon, May 18, 2026 at 5:20 PM Dan Cross via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> I just found out that Peter Salus passed away on May 15. His "Quarter
>> Century of Unix" is required reading for any serious student of Unix
>> history.
>> 
>>        - Dan C.