[SIGCIS-Members] Tony Brooker, R.I.P.

[Brian Randell]

Hi:

I’ve recently received this sad news of the passing of Tony Brooker, a British computer scientist who is best known for his very influential early work on compilers , and the compiler-compiler at Manchester University:

> R A (Tony) Brooker’s son Richard has circulated this message:
> I am writing to let you know that sadly Tony died on the 20th November, peacefully in his sleep. During 2019, he had become increasingly frail both physically and mentally and since July had been looked after in a nursing home not far from where he and Vera lived in Hexham.
> 
> We have not yet finalised the funeral arrangements, but I anticipate that this will be a relatively small event for family and friends.
> Please feel free to pass on the news to any of Tony's old colleagues or acquaintances with whom you might be in contact.
> kind regards and best wishes,
> Richard Brooker.

The Wikipedia account of Tony's career suggests that his Mk 1 Autocode, which was available from March 1954, "was probably the world's first publicly available High-Level Language” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Brooker 

I remember Tony well - he was much liked and respected, and very influential in the early years of computing here in Britain.

Cheers

Brian Randell


School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, 
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 208 7923
URL = http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/people/profile/brianrandell.html