Schultz – who was a frequent presenter at Infosecurity's webinars and well-known on the global IT security conference circuit – is reported to have have suffered an unrecognized stroke about two weeks earlier, and a week later fell down a long escalator at the Minneapolis municipal airport.
Gene Spafford, CERIAS executive director and a life-long friend, says in his obituary that Eugene – Gene as he preferred to be called - was given immediate emergency aid, then hospitalized, but never regained consciousness. Many of his family members were with him during his final days.
“Gene was one of the more notable and accomplished figures in computing security over the last few decades. During the course of his career, Gene was professor of computer science at several universities, including the University of California at Davis and Purdue University, and retired from the University of California at Berkeley. He consulted for a wide range of clients, including US and foreign governments and the banking, petroleum, and pharmaceutical industries. He also managed several information security practices and served as chief technology officer for two companies.”.
“Gene formed and managed the Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) - an incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy - from 1986–1992. This was the first formal incident response team, pre-dating the CERT/CC by several years. He also was instrumental in the founding of FIRST - the Forum of Incident Response & Security Teams.”
“During his 30 years of work in security, Gene authored or co-authored over 120 papers, and five books. He was manager of the I4 program at SRI from 1994–1998. From 2002–2007, he was the Editor-in-Chief of Computers and Security - the oldest journal in computing security - and continued to serve on its editorial board. Gene was also an associate editor of Network Security. He was a member of the accreditation board of the Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP).”
Commenting - with sadness – on Gene's passing, Infosecurity's technical editor Steve Gold said that he had the pleasure of knowing him since the early 2000s after an introduction from a IISP colleague, and found him to be professional and courteous in all aspects of his professional life.
“The one incident that typifies Gene's unswerving desire to assist was in the Czech Republic last year when - after hitting communications problems when about to present at an Infosecurity webinar – he went out of his way to arrange a back-up link from hotel staff who did not speak much English. That he was able to resolve his communications in a foreign land and on his own, typifies his unswerving ability to respond to difficult circumstances,” he said.
“In all of his presentations, Gene will be remember for his dry wit, an incredible memory on IT security issues dating back to the 1980s and his ability to respond to attendee's questions in an educational and informative manner. I am sure my colleagues on Infosecurity – and our webinar attendees - will join with me in expressing our sincere condolences to Gene's family and friends at this difficult time,” he added.
“Gene was a consumate professional in our industry and he will be sadly missed.”