These people were pioneers. They worked at a time when computer programming was new and exciting and had not become a commodity yet. They combined a researcher's originality with an engineer's passion for detail, a rare combination. They never ran away from any problem. They were deeply honest people who stood by their work. When I see how many flakes are doing programming these days, with the only motive being to escape into management and lord it over others, I can appreciate these people.
The other aspect to the lives of people like K, R, Thompson, Pike, and Stroustrup is that they worked in computer science in the US. But the users of their work are now mostly abroad. It is safe to say that the vast economic transformation in countries like India which started with outsourcing of software would not have been possible without these people. Their work provided livelihood for anyone willing to work hard who did not have access to the sophisticated instrumentation required in other fields, which is closely guarded by affluent nations. Women who were denied work in the "hard" industries and others who were marginalized in traditional industries learned C and Unix and entered the workplace.
But now it seems such innovative and sincere people are hard to find in the US.
