Ray Tomlinson, 75, passed away at the age of 75 following an apparent heart attack Saturday morning, according to reports. His death was confirmed by Mike Doble, director of corporate PR at his employer Raytheon. His invention in 1971 of a system that allowed a user on one network to send a message to other computer users on other networks. By the 1990s email had become a pillar of the Internet and was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012, though he could not say what the very first email sent back in 1971 actually said.
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2016/03/email-ray-tomlinson.html