Dennis Ritchie was found dead on October 12, 2011, at the age of 70 at his home in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, where he lived alone. First news of his death came from his former colleague, Rob Pike. The cause and exact time of death have not been disclosed. He had been in frail health for several years following treatment for prostate cancer and heart disease. His death came a week after the death of Steve Jobs, although Ritchie's death did not receive as much media coverage.Computer historian Paul E. Ceruzzi
said after his death: "Ritchie was under the radar. His name was not a
household name at all, but . . . if you had a microscope and could look
in a computer, you'd see his work everywhere inside."He was the designer and original developer of the C programming language, and a central figure in the development of Unix. He spent much of his career at Bell Labs. He was awarded the Turing Award in 1983, and the National Medal of Technology in 1999.
The Fedora 16 Linux distribution, which was released about a month after he died, was dedicated to his memory.
Farewell Mr. Ritchie, you died as a hero to us but your works will never die.
Photo from: http://boingboing.net/2011/10/12/dennis-ritchie-1941-2011-computer-scientist-unix-co-creator-c-co-inventor.html
