Fred Fish

Fred Fish (November 4, 1952 – April 20, 2007) was a computer programmer notable for work on the GNU Debugger and his series of Fish disks of freeware for the Amiga. He was a pioneering spirit pervasive in the Amiga community. The Fish Disks (term coined by Perry Kivolowitz at a Jersey Amiga User Group meeting) became the first national rallying point, a sort of early postal system. Fish would get his disks off around the world in time for regional and local user group meetings who in turn duplicated them for local consumption. Typically, only the cost of materials changed hands. The Fish Disk series ran from 1986 to 1994. In it, one can chart the growing sophistication of Amiga software and see the emergence of many software trends.

The Fish Disks were distributed at computer stores and Commodore Amiga enthusiast clubs. Contributors submitted applications and source code and the best of these each month were assembled and released as a diskette. Since the Internet was not yet in popular usage outside military and university circles, this was a primary way for enthusiasts to share work and ideas. He also initiated the "GeekGadgets" project, a GNU standard environment for AmigaOS and BeOS.

Frederick Samuel Fish

Frederick Samuel "Fred" Fish (8 February 1852–13 August 1936), born in Newark, New Jersey, was an American lawyer, politician and automotive manufacturing executive. Originally a successful corporation lawyer, he entered the Studebaker corporation through marriage and became the corporation's president in 1909 and chairman of the board from 1915 to 1935. He is credited with introducing the manufacture of Studebaker cars, first electric, then gasoline-powered.

Early life

His parents were the Rev. Henry Clay and Clarissa (Jones) Fish. He attended Newark Academy and entered the University of Rochester, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1873. He then studied law, was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1876, and practised in Newark and in New York City from 1876 to 1890.

Political career

He was city attorney of Newark (1880–1884), a member of the New Jersey General Assembly (1884–85) and a member of the New Jersey Senate from Essex County (1885–1887), serving as president of that body during his last term.