David J. Farber, a pioneering computer scientist often described as a “grandfather of the internet,” died Feb. 7 in Tokyo. He was 91.
His son, Emanuel Farber, said the cause was heart failure. Farber had been teaching at Keio University since 2018.
Farber began his career in the mid-1950s at Bell Laboratories, when computers operated largely in isolation. Over the following decades, he helped bridge computing and communications, laying intellectual groundwork for the networked systems that evolved into the modern internet. The New York Times once described him as “an early architect” of the internet.
In academia, Farber mentored students who went on to shape core internet technologies. Among them was Jonathan Postel, whose 1974 dissertation helped define the evolution of Internet Protocol (IP), the foundational rules governing how data packets are transmitted across networks. Another student, Paul Mockapetris, contributed to the design of the Domain Name System (DNS), which translates web addresses into machine-readable IP numbers.
Farber also co-authored a 1977 paper with engineer Paul Baran titled “The Convergence of Computing and Telecommunications Systems.” The paper argued that digital computers were becoming powerful enough to handle communications tasks — a vision that anticipated email, messaging and other internet-based services.
His advocacy helped secure National Science Foundation support to expand the Defense Department–funded ARPANET, a precursor to today’s internet. Farber played a key role in linking universities and research labs through emerging internet protocols, enabling computer scientists nationwide to collaborate electronically.
Born April 17, 1934, in Jersey City, New Jersey, Farber developed an early fascination with electronics, building radios from surplus equipment. He earned degrees from the Stevens Institute of Technology and later worked at Bell Labs before joining RAND Corporation in the late 1960s.
He went on to teach at the University of California, Irvine; the University of Delaware; the University of Pennsylvania; and Carnegie Mellon University. From 2000 to 2001, he served as chief technologist at the Federal Communications Commission.
Beyond technical contributions, Farber became a prominent voice in internet policy debates. He served on boards including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Internet Society.
He also created a widely followed email list known as “IP,” short for “interesting people,” which became an influential forum for discussion of technology and public policy.
Colleagues and family members said Farber never lost sight of the human dimension of technological systems, emphasizing collaboration as much as code. “Through all of this talking with people, these projects happen,” his son Emanuel said. “And it becomes an internet.”
