Jeff Fox

Jeff Fox died at 62 of a heart attack some time before 1030 PDT this morning (May 4, 2011), at his home in Berkeley. His ex-wife Jane, who had been helping him take good care of himself, came back from an hour's errands to find him slumped over his computer. She called for medical assistance and immediately applied CPR but apparently it was just too long after the event. This was a surprise as Jeff's recovery from an earlier episode of congestive heart failure had apparently been going very well.

Jeff asked to be cremated and will share his back yard with his cat.

Jane said that Jeff specifically did not want a memorial or anything. We can each remember him in our own ways, together or apart as seems best.

Reported by Greg Bailey

Death Notice in San Francisco Chronicle

Dave Boulton

Dave Boulton died on Saturday, October 10, 2009.

"There will be a service for Dave at 1 pm on October 23rd. It will be held in the Pacific Chapel at Skylawn. I hope each of you can spread the word and bring as many of Dave’s associates to the service – I would love to have a full house."

"Skylawn is located on Highway 92 at Skyline Blvd."

"We need to have photos to place into the guest book and put on display at the service. As Dave is being cremated the urn will be at the service. If I have not already told you, he donated his cornea so that two more people in the world will have sight."

Dave's cousin Bette

Memorial Invitation - 233 Kb pdf

The Forth Interest Group (FIG) was started by Bill Ragsdale, Kim Harris, John James, Dave Boulton, Dave Bengel, Tom Olsen, and Dave Wyland. They introduced the concept of a FIG Forth Model, a publicly available Forth system that could be implemented on popular computer architectures.

Dave and Sandy Bumgarner worked at Jef Raskin's Information Appliance where he programmed all of the many printer drivers for the Canon Cat.

Dave was credited with the phrase: Never trust a computer which you cannot lift.

Dave wrote a Life program for the Jupiter Ace.

Here is what Dave wrote about himself on December 9, 2007:

"I did a big push for cell phone browsers a few years back at Openwave Systems, then I took some time off. I'm now working up to a new generation of wireless internet stuff."

Herman Griffin

Herman L. Griffin Jr. (June 27, 1933 to Sept 6, 2008) passed away peacefully at the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital after a brief illness.

Herman grew up in Jefferson, PA and Ashland, OH, graduating from Ashland High School in 1952. He was a Korean War Veteran and later attended Ohio State University. In 1959 he came to California and worked at various electronic companies in the Silicon Valley. He had an inquisitive mind and a lifelong love of computers and tinkering.

He is survived by his wife Jacqueline, son Mark (Heather) Griffin of Anqwin, CA, daughter Beth (Eric) Whitmore of Palo Alto and four grandchildren: Emily and Clair Griffin and David and Julie Whitmore. He is also survived by his brother Edwin (Marjorie) Griffin of Westfield Center, OH and many nieces and nephews.

A gathering of friends and family in honor of his memory will take place at one of his favorite places; The Computer History Museum on Friday, Sept 26th at 2pm, 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA.

In lieu of flowers, any memorial donations may be made to the Cancer Research Institute or a charity of your choosing.

Sympathy cards can be sent to:

Jackie Griffin

3617 Ramona Circle

Palo Alto, CA  94306

Trace Carter

Trace Carter, Skip's wife, died suddenly on June 6th, 2006 of a brain hemorrhage resulting from the rupture of an unknown - to them - vascular anomaly. She ran the FIG office during Skip Carter's time as FIG President and handled all the membership, fulfillment, and sales.

Notes from Trace's Memorial Service at the Unity Church of Monterey Bay - Saturday, June 24th, 2006.

Henrik Thurfjell

Long-time Forth devotee and friend, Henrik Thurfjell, passed away on January 17, 2006. SVFIG created a scrapbook of photographs and messages for presentation to Henrik's family at the memorial. His wife, Laila, wrote a letter to thank SVFIG members for the album.

Min Moore, Chuck's wife, passed away January 11, 2006. In addition to being the wife of the inventor of the Forth programming language and the mother of their son, Eric, she taught and practiced weaving and spinning at Elkus Ranch in Half Moon Bay. A recent newsletter memorializes her contributions there.

Bob Reiling passed away on May 5, 1999. He was the primary organizer of the annual FORML Conference, editor of the Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, co-organizer of the first West Coast Computer Faire, and a past President of the Forth Interest Group. Lee Felsenstein reflects on Bob's contributions.