Joseph F. Ossanna (December 10 1928 - November 28 1977), received his BSEE from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, in 1952. He was since a member of the Technical Staff of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. He was actively engaged in the software design of Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service), a general purpose programming system used at the Bell Telephone Laboratories. He also authored the first version of troff for Unix. He died in an accident, being run over by a car.