Dr Alan Solomon
Technology genius named among the Top Ten Greatest Britons in IT history
WITH AN IQ said to be higher than Einstein’s, my father, Alan Solomons, stood out even among the greatest minds at Mensa, and won all the games they played, hands down. The inventor of Dr Solomon’s AntiVirus Toolkit, Alan, who has died of cancer aged 75, started his software company with his wife Susan from their living room in 1984. The business was originally known as S&S but it was later changed to Dr Solomon‘s, in recognition of the eponymous Toolkit.
He was a pioneer in the industry and the programs he wrote became the foundation of some of the latest antivirus software. Until Dr Solomon first disassembled the Brain virus in 1988, no one really understood the workings of these bugs. Brain is the industry’s standard name for a computer virus that was released in January 1986, and considered to be the first computer bug. And he continued to break new ground as new and more complex viruses were discovered.
The Antivirus Toolkit consisted of a collection of various programs he had written aimed at detecting and eradicating computer viruses, and was sold all over the world, not only in Europe and the US, but in far-flung places such as Iceland and Papua New Guinea.
Alan Solomon was the son of Esther and Mo Solomon and older brother to Rosina. Mo died when Alan was five, leaving Esther to bring up her two children alone in Stamford Hill. Alan’s intellect and talent stood out early.
He was a voracious reader and as a child was never without a book. His love of reading would continue into adulthood.
His unique qualities as an individual became obvious early. Rosina recalled that when Esther took him shopping at the age of two, she would give him the bill. He sat in his pram adding it all up, to make sure the shop’s calculations were correct. He always got the sums right.
Owing to his love of books, one of his favourite places as a child was the library. He, his mother and Rosina all had library cards with a six-book maximum each. He would use both their library cards so he was able to take 18 books out. He would return three days later having read them all, some simultaneously, ready for his next batch of 18.
At the age 17, he gained entrance to Cambridge University to study maths one year early, having passed the entrance exam two years before. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree there, and then a PhD in econometrics some years later.
He loved his Cambridge days, playing bridge and riding his bike. He was an active member of Mensa, and his brother-in- law Ian used to accompany him to their meetings, where the other members all looked up to him.
He was 18 when he met his future wife, Susan, at Habonim. She became his best friend and girlfriend. They married in 1973 at Golders Green Synagogue and went on to have two daughters, myself and Angie. We were introduced to computers at an early age. Alan even created games for us and we were playing proficiently by the age of five.
We loved our family cruises and, as there was no luggage limitation, Dad would take a whole suitcase of books on a cruise and read them all. I would sometimes challenge him, unable to believe the speed at which he could read, and ask him what each book was about, and he was always able to tell me exactly.
As well as antivirus software, the company also had a large data recovery department where Alan and his team of programmers would recover data from computers that had become corrupted. If they were unable to do this, there would be no charge. Alan came up with the term “no fix no fee” to describe this. However, they rarely failed.
One of his biggest accomplishments was being awarded the Queen’s Award for Technology in 1993 by the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles, and in his classic, eccentric fashion, Alan pressed a pair of Dr Solomon’s socks into the royal hand.
Not only was his company top in the field of technology, but it was also a much-loved working environment, with many former employees saying working there was the best job that they had ever had.
Graham Cluley, a former employee and cyber-security expert, said Alan was “of course, one of the pioneers of the antivirus industry, a larger-thanlife character with a brilliant mind and a great sense of fun. I remember my days working with Alan and Susan at S&S International (which later became Dr Solomon’s software) as the happiest of my career. He and his wife Susan had faith in me, and I learned a lot from them.”
Alan and Susan originally sold the company to a management buyout in 1996.
By then it had become a multinational corporation with hundreds of employees. Two years later the company was sold to McAfee, which then immediately replaced their software engine with Dr Solomon’s. Over 25 years later McAfee still uses the same engine that Dr Solomon originally wrote.
Despite selling the company and retiring, technology remained Alan’s passion and he continued to innovate long after the company was sold.
In December 2009, an article on a prestigious technology website named Alan Solomon in the list of “Top Ten Greatest Britons in IT History” alongside such names as Alan Turing, Clive Sinclair, Charles Babbage and Tim Berners-Lee.
He was a prolific blogger, posting more than 2,000 posts, dating back to 2011. The blog focused on many aspects of his life such as computers, bicycles and his other favourite hobby, geocaching – treasure-hunting using GPS-enabled devices. He also included several wry comments about his life in general.
Some of his best-known blogs were his arguments with phone scammers, a pastime which brought him great joy. I will love re-reading these posts, even the long, complicated ones, and hearing his voice again in my mind.
Despite making a lot of money, he was never interested in being flashy. He bought all his clothes from Sports Direct and eBay. His go-to outfit was his ancient camo jacket from eBay, his fivepound Velcro plimsolls from Sports Direct and a comedy T-Shirt.
I have been buying him a new comedy T-shirt every year, for a long time, so he built up quite a collection. He had his favourite slogans, which include “ASBO”, “Double vaccinated, still Anti-Social”, and “My wife always says two things 1. I never listen, 2, Something Else.”
The contents of his camo “man bag” should also have an honourable mention number 1. A book, “because you never know when people will bore you”. 2. A white plastic alarm clock, as Dad didn’t like to wear watches. 3. A selection of tools including a Swiss Army Knife, chosen because, as Dad said, “Basically, it’s what you’d find in any boy’s pockets.”
Alan loved hunting for geocaches and was referred to by his nickname, Dr Solly, by his fellow geocachers. At one point, Alan was the top geocacher in Europe having found more than 45,000 geocaches.
Though, as he insisted, “it’s not about the numbers, it’s about the adventure”.
Alan was famed for was his quick wit and eccentricity.
At a computer event where all the young men were bragging about their flash cars, someone asked him: “What car do you have?” With his usual panache, he replied, “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask my chauffeur.”
He called himself “gastronomically Jewish”, which meant he had a strong preference for chopped liver and salt beef. He also loved chicken soup, and one of his family’s favourite stories about him referred to the time he sat in a restaurant having enjoyed the chicken soup starter so much he ordered it again as his main course. He then ordered it a third time for dessert!
Alan is survived by his wife Susan, daughters Jen and Angie, sister Rosina and grandsons Charlie, Jackson, Oscar and Noah.
Dr Alan Solomon: born 11 November, 1948. Died 12 February, 2024