[TUHS] RIP Peter Salus

[Mark Seiden via TUHS]

i must correct an error in what’s below (though not particularly relevant 
except for Lou or others who know the family:

emily salus (which i have now twice typed as “emaily”, sigh) tells me 
mary salus is still  suffering from two ailments that have
her in a memory unit since the time when peter went into the 
hospital in march.

> On May 18, 2026, at 6:30 PM, Mark Seiden <mis at seiden.com> wrote:
> 
> 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.
>