MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Shawn F. Mckay, Senior Software/Hardware Analyst, dies at age 28

July 28, 1995

To: EECS Faculty and Staff

From: Paul Penfield, Jr.

Subject: Shawn F. Mckay

Shawn Mckay has served as the Senior Software/Hardware Analyst for the department, in the Educational Computer Facility, for the past five years. I regret to tell you that he died suddenly this week, at the age of 28.

Before 1990, Shawn was a volunteer programmer and system administrator, for EECS, for the Free Software Foundation, and for the Quincy Emergency Management Agency. Earlier, he had worked for Lachman Associates, MIT, Digital Equipment Corporation, Alden Yankee Computers, Unisource Software Corporation, and Newmar Computer, Inc.

His responsibilities for ECF have included the administration and system programming of many of our computers, and the maintenance of our networks.

Many of Shawn's hobbies and outside interests are described on his World Wide Web home page, http://eddie.mit.edu/~shawn/shawn.html. He had a particular interest in animal rescue operations, especially for cats. He was active on behalf of Kitty Angels, a private cat shelter in Tyngsboro, MA. He served as an Auxiliary Police Officer in Quincy, MA, and is qualified as an Emergency Medical Technician. At one time he was a Park Ranger.

Edward J. Moriarty, Director of Departmental Computing, commented, "Shawn was intensely dedicated to MIT and to the department. He took immense personal pride in his work. He kept our departmental network and computing infrastructure secure and reliable."

Shawn is survived by his mother Marilyn Mckay, his father Richard Mckay, his brother Trace Mckay of Wilson, NC, and his sister Deborah Davey of Weymouth, MA.