[SIGCIS-Members] Jean Sammett passes away

[Chuck House]

As ACM president, I met this ‘force of nature’ and certainly will aver that she was not the easiest person to work with, but you were always impressed by her integrity, grit, and passion.  And yes, she knew LOTS MORE than just COBOL and its history.  She did much, very much, for the entire computing community

 

Chuck

 

From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of James Cortada <jcortada at umn.edu>
Date: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 10:21 AM
To: Dag Spicer <dspicer at computerhistory.org>
Cc: SIGCIS Listserver <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Jean Sammett passes away

 

Oh my.  Anyone who knew her personally will stop what they are doing for a moment to contemplate this force of nature.  Not the easiest person to work with, but she know how to get things done and was confident.  I first met her a few years after she published her book on software languages and was very encouraging in picking up the history of IT.  She kept an eye on history, saving many of her files--yes she was a wonderful pack rat--records that I hope will become available to historians and about a lot more than COBOL and her role in its emergence.  Her death is a sad event indeed.  Jim Cortada

 

On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 11:35 AM, Dag Spicer <dspicer at computerhistory.org> wrote:

A true legend… who just recently made it into “Glamor” magazine, of all things!

Jean Sammet passed away on May 21, 2017 at the age of 88.

http://www.glamour.com/story/when-jean-e-sammet-learned-to-code-steve-jobs-was-still-in-diapers

Dag
—
Dag Spicer
Senior Curator
Computer History Museum
1401 N Shoreline Blvd
Mountain View, CA  94043

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-- 

James W. Cortada

Senior Research Fellow

Charles Babbage Institute

University of Minnesota

jcortada at umn.edu

608-274-6382

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