Jean Sammett passes away
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-w... Dag — Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum 1401 N Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043
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@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
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/ listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
-- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada@umn.edu 608-274-6382
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@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of James Cortada <jcortada@umn.edu> Date: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 10:21 AM To: Dag Spicer <dspicer@computerhistory.org> Cc: SIGCIS Listserver <members@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@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-w... Dag — Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum 1401 N Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043 _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org -- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada@umn.edu 608-274-6382 _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
We could easily fill up this Listserv with memories of Jean, but I want to add just one: the time she came to a SIGCIS meeting in Charlottesville, and she was treated like a rock star—deservedly so. At least that is how I remember it. Paul From: Members [mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Chuck House Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 1:44 PM To: James Cortada <jcortada@umn.edu>; Dag Spicer <dspicer@computerhistory.org> Cc: SIGCIS Listserver <members@sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Jean Sammett passes away 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@lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>> on behalf of James Cortada <jcortada@umn.edu<mailto:jcortada@umn.edu>> Date: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 10:21 AM To: Dag Spicer <dspicer@computerhistory.org<mailto:dspicer@computerhistory.org>> Cc: SIGCIS Listserver <members@sigcis.org<mailto:members@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@computerhistory.org<mailto:dspicer@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-w... Dag — Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum 1401 N Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043 _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<http://sigcis.org>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org -- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada@umn.edu<mailto:jcortada@umn.edu> 608-274-6382 _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
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.
I believe she donated a lot of material to the Charles Babbage Institute — I contacted her in 2004 in my search for the original Fortran compiler.
Is anyone in contact with her family? On 05/23/2017 12:35 PM, Dag Spicer 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-w...
Dag — Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum 1401 N Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan@vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation
participants (6)
-
Ceruzzi, Paul -
Chuck House -
Dag Spicer -
Evan Koblentz -
James Cortada -
Paul McJones