All About Sathers

My last name is Sather, which is not a particularly common name in Texas. I am told that Sather is Norwegian for shepherd, but I can't verify that. Ironically, my family is Swedish. When they came to this country, they did not have a fixed surname. The son was referred to as the son of the father and the daughter was referred to as the daughter of the mother. Thus, my ancestors were named Olson and Martasdottir. According to family legend, nearly everyone in the town where my ancestor settled was named Olson, making mail delivery difficult. As a result, Carl Olson became Carl Sather. The name Sather was not based on the Norwegian, but was derived from Satterbergen, a mountain in Sweden near where Carl came from.

Having a somewhat obscure name, I take interest whenever I see the name Sather come up. Here are a few instances of the name.

The Berkley Connection

Probably the largest concentration of Sather-related people, places and things relates to UC Berkley. Peder Sather was a Norwegian-born banker who donated money for two important landmarks at UC-Berkley in memory of his wife Jane K. Sather. These were the Sather Gate and the Sather Tower.



The Sather Gate seems to be a place where protesters tend to gather. According to recent news, demonstrators against budget cuts by UC President Mark Yudof (who was dean of the UT Law School when I attended) gathered at the Sather Gate.



The Sather Tower is also known as the Campanile due to its resemblance to the Campanile di San Marco in Venice. The Sather Tower was the inspiration for the Sather computer language.

According to Wikipedia, "Sather is an object-oriented programming language. It originated circa 1990 at the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California-Berkley, developed by an international team led by Steve Omohundro. It supports garbage collectoin and generics by subtypes."

Apparently Sather was intended to be a simpler, more elegant version of the Eiffel computer language. Since the group which developed it was based at Berkley, they named their language after the Sather Tower, a tower which was smaller and more elegant than the Eiffel Tower. According to something that I found on the web somewhere, "The name 'Sather' is a pun of sorts-Sather was originally envisioned as a smaller, efficient, cleaned-up alternative to the language Eiffel. However, since its conception the two languages have evolved to be quite distinct."

Other Places Named Sather



Sather Air Base is located on the West side of Baghdad International Airport. It is named after Staff Sergeant Scott Sather, the first airman to give his life in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

3292 Sather is a main-belt asteroid disocvered on September 24, 1960 by Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory.

Sathers Candy

John Sather, a local grocer in Round Lake, Minnesota, established the Sather Company in 1936. In 1972, Sathers went national. It is now part of Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, Inc. You can find Sathers candy at grocery stores and Walgreen's everywhere.

Notable Sathers Who Aren't Part of My Family

Steve Sather is one of the most interesting Sathers who is not part of my family. In 1979, he was a guitarist and vocalist for Potliquor, a band from Louisiana which "straddled the line between country, blues, southern rock and hard rock, all the while throwing in horns just to keep things fresh." Steve lives in Round Rock, Texas. The proximity has caused me to receive his mail as well as calls from his ex-wife.

According to the blogs, Glen Sather may be the most hated man in New York. Sather is the current president and general manager of the New York Rangers. He was nicknamed "Tomato Face" due to his perpetually red face during his playing days. He played ten full seasons in the NHL and another season in the WHA. He played 739 regular season games as a pro and earned 801 minutes in penalties. Whenever he does something as GM of the Rangers, he is immediately criticised by dozens of hockey fanatic bloggers.



Natalie "Speed" Sather is a 24 year old race car driver from Fargo, North Dakota. Her favorite movie is "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." Her favorite food is grilled cheese with pickles. Her favorite tv show is the Austin based "Friday Night Lights." You can read more about her at www.nataliesather.com.

Drake Sather was a stand up comedian and Emmy nominated television show writer. His credits included Zoolander, Saturday Night Live, the Dennis Miller Show, Ed and NewsRadio. He had an untimely death in 2004.



Jeanne Sather is the author of the blog, The Assertive Cancer Patient, http://assertivecancerpatient.com. She began her career as a journalist. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in in 1998 at age 43, she began to write about her experiences.

When American Healthcare Works Well

One difficulty with the current debate on healthcare is that people's experiences vary dramatically. However, for most people the system works pretty well. Today was a case in point. I was preparing for my daughter's birthday party when I fell off a ladder and landed on a sawhorse. I knew right away that I had landed hard on my ribs.

Since it was Saturday, I couldn't go to see my own doctor. However, there was a minor emergency center less than a mile from my house. In just an hour and a half, I had been x-rayed and seen a doctor who confirmed that I had fractured a rib. However, it was not anything which required treatment. I left with a CD containing my x-rays and a prescription for pain medicine. All it cost me was a $50 co-pay. With the pain that I was in, I am sure that I would have willingly paid a lot more.

I was able to return to finish preparations for Kristen's party and was a lot more careful around ladders and sawhorses.

For me, the healthcare system worked extraordinarily well. I was able to get affordable treatment in a short period of time in my own neighborhood. I realize that many people don't have the same experience. However, it is important to make sure that we don't throw out the parts of the system that currently work.

Why It's Great to Be an Adult

Today I had two contrasting experiences. I spent day 4 of a hearing in bankruptcy court, then I went to my daughter's back to school night. In each class, the message was the same: if we see your phone, it will be confiscated. I felt guilty because I was texting my daughter with my progress from class to class to let her know that I hadn't gotten lost yet. However, the high school experience really contrasted with the court experience. While I was sitting in court all day, I had access to my email and texts on my phone. While the U.S. Marshalls would never allow me to make a phone call while court was in session, I was perfectly free to email my assistant to let her know that I needed a document or more bottled water or just to let her know that I was bored. The smartphone is both an incredible communications tool and a great antidote to a short attention span. However, I can see why they don't allow their use in high school classrooms. Sometimes, it's great to be an adult.