IETF In Memoriam 2025

2.1. Bernard Aboba

Bernard Aboba 1 February 2025. Over more than a quarter century as an IETF contributor, Bernard chaired the IETF SLIM, MARTINI, RADEXT, EAP and AAA Working Groups and authored over 50 RFCs. He was a leader of the Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) efforts in IETF and W3C. He also served as the Chair of the Internet Architecture Board from 2011 to 2013.¶

A long-time employee of Microsoft, Bernard is remembered as an exceptionally supportive and patient leader of technical efforts.¶

2.2. Fred Baker

Fred Baker died 18 June 2025. Fred served as IETF Chair from 1996 to 2001. He co-authored or edited over 60 RFCs. Perhaps his most notable RFC was [RFC1812], Requirements for IP version 4 Routers, an effort which took multiple years and required integrating the input of many communities within the IETF. Fred also served on the Internet Architecture Board and the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society.¶

Fred is widely remembered for his pragmatic and collaborative leadership. Close friends also remember his commitment to living a moral life and being a good parent, spouse, and friend.¶

2.3. Dave Taeht

Dave Taeht died 1 April 2025. A vigorous advocate for eliminating buffer bloat, Dave was a co-author of [RFC8290] and named contributor to several other RFCs including [RFC7567] and [RFC8289].¶

Dave is remembered as a proponent of "running code". He regularly was the person creating working and tested implementations of new ideas in queue management.¶

3.1. Robert T. Braden

Robert T. "Bob" Braden died 16 April 2018. Bob's contributions to Internet standards stretched back to 1971, when he was the co-author of an early specification of the File Transfer Protocol. He was the author or co-author of over 60 RFCs. When the IETF was created, Bob became an active member, and chaired the influential Internet Host Requirements Working Group, which produced [RFC1122] and [RFC1123]. Bob was also a long-time member of the Internet Architecture Board and chair of the End-to-End Research Group. Upon the death of Jon Postel, Bob, along with Joyce Reynolds, served as the co-editor of the RFC series for several years.¶

Bob is remembered by colleagues for his deep interest in bringing talented young researchers into the Internet community and his high technical standards. He had a great appreciation for insightful technical comments, which he often endorsed with a warm chuckle, even when they were directed at his own work. He was survived by two sons and a granddaughter.¶

3.2. Ned Freed

Ned Freed died May 22, 2022. Ned was an email pioneer, who broke into the Internet world as one of the people who got Internet email working on DEC VMS systems. He co-led the effort to create the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) which moved email messages from the world of ASCII text to rich multimedia documents. Ned also served as a member of the Internet Engineering Steering Group and a member of the Internect Architecture Board. He was the author of over 50 RFCs.¶

Colleagues remember Ned as a brilliant technologist, and a leader who smoothed over differences and built consensus. A loving father and spouse, he was survived by a wife and son.¶

3.3. Evi Nemeth

Evi Nemeth was lost at sea in June 2013. A regular IETF attendee, Evi is remembered at IETF for producing a range of IETF-themed T-shirts, which she sold to support student activies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Evi also played na important role in the development of Unix system administration, security research and Internet measurement.¶

Evi was an avid sailor in her later years, entertaining friends with vibrant accounts of her voyages.¶

3.4. Joyce K. Reynolds

Joyce Reynolds died 28 December 2015. An early leader in the IETF, Joyce was a member of the IESG from 1990 to 1998. She also was a senior member of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) from 1983 to 2001, and, with Bob Braden, a co-editor of the RFC series. She wrote or co-wrote over 60 RFCs.¶

Joyce is often remembered as the no-nonsense colleague who collaborated with Jon Postel to get the IANA started and then kept it functioning for nearly two decades. Within the IETF community she is also remembered for her welcoming leadership style combined with a talent for nudging working groups to make an impact.¶

3.5. Jim Schaad

Jim Schaad died 3 October 2020. A security expert, he was a long-time participant in the IETF, writing over 30 RFCs on topics such as secure MIME and X.509 certificates.¶

A long-time employee of Microsoft, after his retirement Jim became a winemaker. His winery, August Cellars, also served as an incubator for small wineries.¶

4.1. Inclusion

To be included in this memorial note, a person needed to have met one of the following criteria:¶

• served in an IETF leadership capacity, such as membership in the IESG or chairing a Working Group;¶

• authored an IETF Stream Request for Comments (RFC), or before the IETF stream existed, authored an RFC produced under the auspices of the IETF; or¶

• attended the majority of IETF meetings over at least a decade.¶

These criteria were chosen to ensure that people listed were ones who had an impact on the work of IETF.¶

The editor of this memo, at their discretion and with guidance from the IETF community, may have included other persons whose contributions to the IETF were deemed to be substantial but do not meet the above criteria.¶

This is an IETF-centered memorial note. Lack of inclusion in this memo is NOT intended to reflect poorly on any person's contribution to the Internet, especially as many valuable contributors worked outside the auspices of the IETF or made their contributions before the IETF came into being.¶

4.2. Format

This memo seeks to treat each remembered colleague in roughly the same two paragraph format. The first paragraph summarizes their contributions to IETF. The (optional) second paragraph seeks to provide a small personal sense of the colleague being remembered.¶

The following subsection offers an informal template.¶

4.3. NOTABLE IETFer

Notable IETFer, former chair of the Unsafe at Any Data Rate WG and a participant in the IETF starting in 1991, died in 2025. Beyond their contribution as WG chair, they are membered for making important contributions to the SNMP MIB Mutilation WG and co-authoring RFC 3.14159, which introduced the PPP Randomly Misdirect Option.¶

IETF participants remember Notable's skill at wrangling difficult and intertwined MAY/MUST text into clear, hierarchical prose. Outside of their IETF activities, Notable was known for having twice won the International Sanskrit spelling bee. Notable was predeceased by Fuzzball, their spouse of 40 years, and is survived by two children.¶