Re: Alan Kotok

Alan and I were good friends ever since our undergraduate days at MIT.
I was one class ahead of Alan and we were both members of the Model
Railroad
Club. I quickly got interested in playing bridge - my dad was an avid
bridge player, but Alan refused to play while he was still a student. He
saw too many flunk out (or nearly so I my case) due to spending too much
time at the bridge table. Despite his refusal to participate, he did
learn
the game by kibitzing over our shoulders.

Alan was responsible for getting me my first job at Digital. I
overslept(!)
my first job interview and they would have given up on me if Alan hadn't
come to my defense.

I worked closely with Alan on the 2nd generation of the PDP-10. The
three
chief logic designers were Alan, Allen Kent, and me (David Gross). DEC
applied for a few patents based on our designs which were issued under
the
name "Alan Kotok et al". Alan liked to quip: Alan et Al et Dave.

In the last few years I have been pursuing interests other than bridge
and
I was out of contact with Alan. I learned of Judie's death only recently
and paid him a condolence call just the Wednesday before he died. I have
noticed in the past that I had the bad habit of completing Alan's
sentences
for him and I caught myself doing it again. We made a date to play
bridge
Tuesday (yesterday). That must be the first bridge date Alan ever
missed.

Dave

Received on Thursday, 8 June 2006 03:25:57 UTC