
Patrick Volkerding

Patrick Volkerding (born October 20, 1966) is the founder and maintainer of the Slackware Linux distribution. Volkerding is Slackware's "Benevolent Dictator for Life" (BDFL), and is also known informally as "The Man".
Personal life.
Volkerding earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 1993. Volkerding is a Deadhead, and by April 1994 had already attended 75 concerts.
Volkerding is a Church of the SubGenius affiliate/member. The use of the word "slack" in "Slackware" is an homage to J. R. "Bob" Dobbs. About the SubGenius influence on Slackware, Volkerding has stated: "I'll admit that it was SubGenius inspired. In fact, back in the 2.0 through 3.0 days we used to print a dobbshead on each CD."
Volkerding is an avid homebrewer and beer lover. Early versions of Slackware would entreat users to send him a bottle of local beer in appreciation for his work.
Volkerding was married in 2001 to Andrea and has a daughter Briah Cecilia Volkerding (b. 2005).
Illness.
In 2004, Volkerding announced via mailing list post that he was suffering from Actinomycosis, a serious illness requiring multiple rounds of antibiotics and with an uncertain prognosis. This announcement caused a number of tech news outlets to wonder about the future of the Slackware project. As of 2012, both Volkerding and the Slackware project were reported to be in a healthy state again.
Slackware Linux.
For a short while, Chris Lumens and others assisted with his work on Slackware. Due to the lack of a continuing revenue stream following the sale of his publisher, Walnut Creek CDROM, to BSDi (which was ultimately sold to Wind River Systems), these people had to be let go.
For the last several years Volkerding has managed Slackware with the help of many volunteers and testers.
Awards.
In 2014, Volkerding received the O'Reilly Open Source Award.