Rod Burstall: In Memoriam
J Strother Moore, Gordon D. Plotkin, David E. Rydeheard, Donald Sannella · Formal Aspects of Computing · 2025
Rodney Martineau Burstall -Rod, as he was known to us all -died on Thursday, 13th February, 2025, after a long illness.Rod was a kind and generous man who will be remembered by those who knew him as much for his humanity as for his contributions to computer science.While he made major contributions to our subject, he constantly demonstrated humility, curiosity, openness, tolerance, and acceptance.He read widely and enjoyed discussing -or learning about -basically any topic that his conversational partner felt passionate about.Perhaps more than anything he exemplified a comfortable way of being human.To many of us that was his greatest contribution to our lives.Rod was born in 1934, the son of a draftsman and a housewife from Liverpool.He attended King George V Grammar School at Southport, moved on to King's College, Cambridge, reading Natural Sciences, and then took a Masters in