Features

Becky and Mike O’Malley, the Planet's new publishers, have lived in Berkeley for most of their lives. Becky came here as an undergraduate in 1958. They spent most of the sixties in Ann Arbor, where Mike was getting his Ph.D. and teaching in the Computer Science department of the University of Michigan. Becky divided her Ann Arbor time between editing jobs, organizing against the Vietnam War and managing political campaigns. They returned to Berkeley in 1973 so that Mike could teach at UC Berkeley, and we’ve lived here ever since. Our three daughters, Sara, Rachel and Eliza, are Berkeley High graduates. 

Becky went to law school after they returned to Berkeley, and was admitted to the California Bar in 1977, but has been an inactive member for the last twenty years. She was a journalist during and after law school, doing investigative reporting for publications like Mother Jones and The Nation. 

The couple founded a software company, Berkeley Speech Technologies, Inc., in the early eighties, and ran it until 1996, when it was acquired by a European company. Since then, they’ve had time to take part in Berkeley life in various ways, with particular emphasis on politics and the arts. They decided to try to revive the Planet because they enjoyed reading it and missed it.