This is a continuation of a locked thread.
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/180852.html

October 30, 2011 has been designated "Dennis Ritchie Day".
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/3260-dennis-ritchie-day.html
http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/30/1158204/dennis-ritchie-day

Two Turing Award winners died in October 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Award#Recipients

Dennis M. Ritchie and Ken Thompson were the 1983 winners of the Turing Award. Dennis died October 12, 2011.

John McCarthy, the creator of Lisp, was the 1971 winner of the Turing Award. John McCarthy died on October 23, 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCarthy_(computer_scientist)