Peter Linz

Peter Linz, emeritus professor of math and computer science at UC Davis, and founder of Logos Books in Davis, passed away at his home there on Thursday, July 11, 2024.

He was born in Apatin, Yugoslavia (Serbia), a city founded by Austrian immigrants, on July 19, 1936. Peter immigrated with his family in 1952 to Montréal, Canada, where he finished high school and went on to complete a degree in mathematics and physics at McGill University.

He later completed a master’s degree in physics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1959, starting a Ph.D. in computer science there before leaving to go to work for IBM in Poughkeepsie from 1963 to 1965.

He returned to complete his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1968. From 1968 to 1970 Peter worked as an assistant professor at the Courant Institute in New York before accepting a position in the math department at UC Davis in 1970. He retired from UCD as chair of the computer science department in the School of Engineering in 1994, having been a principal in its creation.

Ever an avid reader, Peter expanded his interest in books by becoming an independent book dealer on the web. In 2010 he translated this interest into a brick-and-mortar store in Davis, Logos Books that he and his wife of 49 years, Susan, ran for seven years. Logos Books was a nonprofit, which allowed Peter to combine his love of books with his desire to give back to those less fortunate.

Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children were the recipients of all profits made at the bookstore. Due to his poor health, the bookstore was sold in 2017, but happily found a new lease on life with the Friends of the Davis Library, another worthy, local nonprofit.

Peter enjoyed camping, hiking, fishing, skiing, listening to music, reading and traveling. He pursued many of these interests with his family: wife, Susan, and sons David and Thomas. Opa Linz reveled in the company of his grandchildren (Gabriel, Annabelle, Freddie and Emily) as well as his lovely daughters-in-law (Brooke and Helen).

Notification of a celebration of life gathering in the Fall will be forthcoming for close friends and family who are able to attend. The family asks that any gifts made in his name go to the charities he supported in life; Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children.