Obituaries

Ray Tomlinson, 74, the inventor of modern email, has died. Raytheon Co., his employer, on Sunday confirmed his death; the details were not immediately available.

Email existed in a limited capacity before Mr. Tomlinson, in that electronic messages could be shared amid multiple people within a limited framework. But until his invention in 1971 of the first network person-to-person email there was no way to send something to a specific person at a specific address.

Mr. Tomlinson chose the "at" (@) symbol to connect the username with the destination address and it has now become a cultural icon.

While he was a holder of numerous awards and other accolades, coworkers said he was humble and modest - and, surprisingly, not a frequent checker of email. - AP
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nolead ends Ralph M. Baruch, 92, who escaped Nazi-dominated Europe in his teens and later became a powerful television executive, building the onetime CBS subsidiary of Viacom into a broadcasting giant, died Thursday at his home in New York City. The death was announced by his family, though the cause was not disclosed.

Mr. Baruch sold advertising for the now-defunct DuMont network before moving to CBS in 1954.

He eventually was put in charge of international distribution at CBS before being named chief executive of Viacom, a new cable-TV entity, in 1971. At the time, Viacom was little more than an afterthought, a company spun off from CBS because of a Federal Communications Commission ruling that broadcast networks could not own cable or syndication businesses.

At Viacom, Mr. Baruch began to acquire radio and TV stations and turned the company toward original programming, launching the Showtime and the Cable Health Network (now Lifetime Television).

As cable began to catch on, Viacom continued to grow into one of the industry's most powerful conglomerates. Mr. Baruch left Viacom in 1987, when Sumner Redstone engineered a $3.4 billion deal to purchase the company and name himself chairman.

Mr. Baruch's first wife, Elizabeth "Lilo" Bachrach, died in 1959.

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, the former Jean Ursell de Mountford; four daughters from his first marriage; and three grandchildren. - Washington Post
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nolead ends Delmer Berg, 100, who left a dishwashing job in California to join the Republican forces fighting Gen. Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, a bloody and ultimately futile struggle of which Mr. Berg was the last known American veteran, died Feb. 28. Thomas Berg said that his father died at his home in Columbia, Calif., and that the cause was complications from a fall.

Mr. Berg's death was announced by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, an organization that honors the 2,800 American volunteers who, despite official U.S. neutrality in the conflict, fought to defend Spain's elected government against Franco's fascist insurrection.

Franco defeated his outgunned opponents in 1939 and established a dictatorship that would last until his death in 1975 - three decades beyond the defeat of Hitler and Mussolini.

Mr. Berg served briefly in the Army before obtaining a discharge and going to Spain, according to a son. He rejoined the military to serve in the Pacific during World War II, later returning to social activism.

Mr. Berg was married several times. His wife of 43 years, the former June Wilson, died in 2015. Survivors include two children from previous relationships; two stepchildren; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. - Washington Post