[TUHS] RIP Peter Salus

Tue May 19 14:04:42 AEST 2026

Beyond “Quarter Century” and USENIX, two non-TUHS notes about Peter
1. Peter wrote Casting the net: from ARPANET to Internet and beyond (https://archive.org/details/castingnetfromar0000salu)
2. Peter was extraodinarily helpful to me and Joe Duran with our Mainstream Videoconferencing book (https://notes.technologists.com/notes/2008/02/14/mainstream-videoconferencing-available-again/), helping get us the contract with Addison-Wesley, assisting with editing of the work in progress, posting very nice reviews, …

Charlie

> On May 18, 2026, at 10:13 PM, Mark Seiden via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> 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.
>> 
> 

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