In Memoriam The world of A P L lost a friend w h e n Stephen W . Dunwell, retired I B M Fellow, died on M a r c h 21, 1994, at his h o m e in Poughkeepsie, N e w York. Steve, or "Red" as he was k n o w n to many, was a pioneer in computing, with wide-ranging interests. H e started at I B M in 1934, took time out to work on cryptography using I B M machines in the military during World W a r II, and returned to I B M to eventually head up the team that designed and built STRETCH, the supercomputer of its time (1958). Appointed an I B M Fellow in 1966, he began work on an educational system, Coursewriter, at about the same time that the original A P L group was producing APL\360, and he took an immediate interest in APL. In furtherance of his interest in education, Steve started an A P L timesharing service, k n o w n as SECOS, to several schools in the Poughkeepsie area. Internal to I B M he started an online information service for field engineers, based on APL. This pioneering system grew into the H O N E and R E T A I N systems which still use A P L to support IBM's sales personnel and technicians world wide_ As part of the original system, he developed and used one of the first A P L file systems, called "dataspace," which ultimately evolved into a widely-used auxiliary processor. Over the years he had m a n y discussions with the A P L design group, suggesting n e w language features or system facilities based upon his extensive practical experience. After retiring from IBM, Steve ran an A P L time-sharing service for local businesses in the H u d s o n Valley, and used this as a base for research in language design. His goal was to develop a very high level universal computing language (AUL), which, together with machines built in accord with the architecture implied by A U L , would constitute a major advance in solving the computer industry problem of the high cost of developing software. H e felt that APL, while not meeting all of his criteria for a universal language, was still the best language to use as a foundation for A U L because of its emphasis on arrays and interpretative execution. Steve had a strong interest in the society in which he lived, as manifested by his activities in the field of education, and also, for example, in his restoration of the historic Bardavon opera house in Poughkeepsie after his retirement, in collaboration with his wife, Julia. Another aspect of his social concern was illustrated a few years ago w h e n I brought to his attention the problems an employee was experiencing in trying to reach agreement with their employer on a procedure for recovering personally-owned materials from the employer's computers after being cut off from normal access. H e immediately recognized the broad societal implications of the issues, and he volunteered an affidavit to help resolve them. In his affidavit he cited his 55 years of experience in the computer industry, and gave his reason for becoming involved, writing, "I believe that scientists h a v e an obligation to participate in the amelioration o f the social a n d m o r a l consequences o f their work, a n d I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this case on that basis." Steve Dunwell left a l e g a c y of computer innovations, project i n i t i a t i v e s t h a t are still ongoing, an d c o n t r i b u t i o n s to society, whose i n f l u e n c e will be felt for another 55 years or more. • - Adin Falkoff A P L Q~ot. Q==d

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