In 1958 I joined a government co-op program and entered Pratt Institute as an engineering major.  In  the co-op program I worked part time for the Navy. This was a five year program so I graduated in 1963 and then had an obligation to work for some time for the Navy.  1964 was a big year: I left the Navy, started a job with Bell Labs, and got married all in the same month. 

I was at  Bell Labs for two years where I worked on the first computerized telephone switching office and also got my masters at NYU.  In 1966 my division of Bell Labs was moved to Naperville Illinois and I decided to leave to go back to school at Princeton for a Ph.D. in computer science.  I graduated from Princeton in 1969 and decided to look for a university faculty position.  I had visited the western US the previous year and was so taken with the west that I only applied to universities on the west coast.  I took a position in the Computer Science Department at UCLA in July 1969.  In the first few years I worked with the research group developing what eventually became the Internet. I have been at UCLA since 1969 except for several sabbaticals spent in France, Spain, and Brazil and a one year leave of absence to work at a startup company.  I love the university life and have never regretted the choice.  I suppose that is why I have not retired yet … and I am concerned about whether I will even like retirement.

My first wife died in 1973. I met my current wife, Alice, in 1980 and, after a whirlwind romance, we were married in March, 1981.  Since our marriage we have lived in Pacific Palisades, CA (between Santa Monica and Malibu).  Alice is a business consultant working mainly with companies in China or US companies doing business in China. We have no biological children but I view the 30+ Ph.D. graduates I have been advisor to over the years as my progeny