A Commodore Legend Dies

I received a message from a Commodore Users Group that Jim Butterfield (14 February 1936–29 June 2007) died on June 29, 2007, after battling cancer in many parts of his body. (Note: This is painful for me because he was 3 years younger than my mother.)

Jim was a Toronto, Canada-based author and computer programmer famous for his work with Commodore microcomputers, and a longtime contributor to many related periodicals, even long after the company declared bankruptcy. He personally taught me, via email, assembly language programming for the Commodore 64 (C64) and Commodore 128 (C128) computers many years ago. His assembly language and BASIC routines for "string thing 64" and "string thing 128" were used in many BBS programs for the Commodore line of computers during the BBS era.

He will be sorely missed.

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July 7th, 2007 By RT Cunningham | Categories: Celebrities | Tags: assembly language, BASIC, C128, C64, cancer, Commodore, death, programming | Full Article Feed | Summary Article Feed | Comments Feed | Full Articles by Email | Respond | Trackback URL

2. Pingback: Hosting Obits | Andy Beard - Niche Marketing on July 9th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
   

   [...] I found out that a legend among Commodore Computer Users, Jim Butterfield passed away over on Untwisted [...]

2. Comedy Plus on July 8th, 2007 at 4:37 am (Reply)
   
   

   I'm sorry for your loss RT.

3. Andy Beard on July 9th, 2007 at 7:30 am (Reply)
   
   

   It is strange how paths cross. I know my late father knew Jim from his work with ICPUG in the UK.

   I have read loads of Jims writing over the years

   2. RT Cunningham on July 9th, 2007 at 4:20 pm (Reply)
      
      

      Strange indeed. Since I first started getting into computers and programming back in the early 80s, I've communicated with so many people, it would be impossible to remember even a fraction of them.

4. Baxter Tocher on July 20th, 2007 at 2:48 am (Reply)
   
   

   I'm just catching up with some feeds. This is very sad news indeed.

   The history of Commodore (both in the C64 and latterly in the Amiga days) has always had a select few people associated with it, either inside or outside, who relentlessly pushed forward the boundaries of machine and creativity. Jim Butterfield was the first, and was pivotal to the whole concept of Commodore in the days when it was a progressive, innovative designer.

   Sadly, in this age of the off-the-shelf PC components and the proprietary Apple, there are very few that carry that gravitas. Jim was one of a rare breed of pioneers.

5. steve on February 13th, 2008 at 10:16 pm (Reply)
   
   

   Hi,
   sorry to hear about him passing on. actually i am sure i remember the name from years ago in some magazines.?

   mabe it was compute. and the c-64 ,machine will never die i would say.

   just like some old cars like the classic leyland mini(mr bean car) i have one of those too.
   they are fun to drive for sure.

   steve