[TUHS] RIP Peter Salus

Tue May 19 21:49:07 AEST 2026

Peter was Executive Director of USENIX for a number of years.  I think Lou
Katz was on the USENIX board at the time and recommended him.

Peter was a marvelous cook.  He'd call me up on the phone and invite me
over to eat "dog food", by which he meant organ meats.

Some years ago he asked me to teach his daughter Emily calculus.  I said,
"But you know calculus.  Why don't you teach her?"  He replied, "Yes, but
when I try to teach her, we fight."  It was an interesting experience
because I could write down the answers to her homework by inspection, but I
had to delve into her text to remind myself how to explain it.  I relearned
the basic underpinnings.  I think she got an A.

Marc
=====
mindthegapdialogs.com <https://www.mindthegapdialogs.com>
north-fork.info <https://www.north-fork.info>

On Tue, May 19, 2026 at 12:05 AM Charles H. Sauer via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org>
wrote:

> 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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