22 tech luminaries we lost in 2025

As modern technologies such as artificial intelligence grab today’s headlines, it’s worth remembering that their foundations were being laid more than half a century ago by computer scientists, philosophers, psychologists, developers, entrepreneurs, and more. These pioneers and those who followed tackled issues and solved problems that future generations may never know existed — but without their seminal work, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

As we look back on 2025, Computerworld honors the lives of those we lost, including our own beloved colleague Lucas Mearian. Here are 22 tech trailblazers whose accomplishments helped shape our world.

Steve Langasek: Debian devotee

April 27, 1979 – January 1, 2025

Steve Langasek discusses the Ubuntu release process and what it takes to manage it. Credit: Ubuntu

After experimenting with Slackware and Red Hat as a teenager, Steve Langasek began contributing to Debian Linux at 21 — then dedicated the rest of his life to open-source software. He eventually rose to principal engineer, volunteer release manager for Debian, Ubuntu release manager for Canonical, and maintainer or co-maintainer of packages such as samba, pam, and openldap2.3 — all while serving as a respected Linux leader, organizer, and mentor.

“Steve shone with a clarity of purpose that motivated many others to build the very best open source platforms they could dream about,” wrote Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. “He touched thousands of people’s lives directly, and his work improves the lives of millions.”

Langasek was 45 when he passed.

Mike Maples Sr.: The adult in the room

August 25, 1942 – January 9, 2025

Mike Maples, Sr. discusses the early days of Microsoft on the Legends & Losers Podcast. Credit: Legends & Losers Podcast

In 1988, Microsoft hired Mike Maples Sr., a decades-long veteran of IBM, to serve as the executive vice president of the Worldwide Products Group. Microsoft “was just a bunch of kids struggling to figure out how to do things,” said Maples, who, at 46, was more than a decade older than co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Maples restructured Microsoft so it could evolve from startup to enterprise, and he raised the bar for quality assurance and customer commitments, reducing defects and release delays for products as vital as Windows and Microsoft Office.

Maples headed the products group at Microsoft until his retirement in 1995. He was 82 when he died.

Cordell Green: Theoretical logician

December 26, 1941 – February 12, 2025

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Kestrel Institute

Logic programming dates to the 1970s with Prolog and Datalog, languages that presented radically different approaches to programming. Still used today in applications such as big data processing, these languages, as well as modern, inference-based AI systems, were made possible by Dr. Cordell Green, who established the theoretical basis for the field of logic programming. His work earned him the Grace Murray Hopper Award in 1985.

Green also worked at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, later renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), where he assisted those who were creating ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. And in 1981, Green founded the Kestrel Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to software program synthesis, refinement, analysis, and verification. He died at 83.

Rod Burstall: AI educator

November 11, 1934 – February 13, 2025

Rod Burstall’s career at the University of Edinburgh spanned from 1964 to his retirement in 2000. In the late 1960s, he contributed to the creation of programming languages COWSEL and POP-2, which persisted for decades and were used to teach early AI programming to college students in the 1980s. And in 1987, Burstall and three colleagues founded the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (LFCS), a collaborative community of scientists exploring the analysis and design of computing systems. The lab exists to this day, having researched such fields as blockchain technology, quantum computing, and secure voting models. Burstall was 90 when he passed.

Ronald A. Katz: Inventing connections

March 10, 1936 – March 28, 2025

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UCLA

Ronald Katz began innovating in the phone industry at the age of 25, when he co-founded Telecredit, a company that provided vendors with automated phone verification of personal checks. A prolific inventor, Katz held more than 50 US patents involving phone-routing systems, speech recognition, video monitoring, and more. Call centers that relied on his inventions included those of IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, HP, and Citibank.

Katz used his fortune to fund the establishment of the Ronald A. Katz Center for Collaborative Military Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Health Operation Mend, supporting the physical and mental health needs of veterans; and UCLA’s 3 Wishes Project, helping end-of-life patients achieve their final wishes. He died at 89.

David Täht: Battling bufferbloat

August 11, 1965 – April 1, 2025