Lawrence Roberts, Who Helped Design Internet’s Precursor, Dies at 81 (New York Times)

The New York Times reports
the death of Dr. Lawrence G. Roberts, who was heavily involved in
Arpanet. 'Dr. Roberts was considered the decisive force behind packet
switching, the technology that breaks data into discrete bundles that are
then sent along various paths around a network and reassembled at their
destination. He decided to use packet switching as the underlying
technology of the Arpanet; it remains central to the function of the
internet.' (Thanks to Paul Wise.)