[SIGCIS-Members] In Memory of Harry Huskey

Fri Apr 14 20:23:18 PDT 2017

*From: *"Alexander Wolf, Baskin Engineering Dean" <alw at ucsc.edu>

<http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/> In Memory Of Harry Huskey
COMPUTER PIONEER AND FOUNDING UC SANTA CRUZ FACULTY MEMBER

Dear BSOE Community and Friends of Harry Huskey,

It saddens me to report that Harry Huskey, a well-known pioneer in computer
science and co-founder of the UC Santa Cruz Information Sciences
Department, now the Computer Science Department, passed away on April 9,
2017.

Several original faculty members in the Baskin School of Engineering
remember Harry well: his sharp wit and unpretentious manner, and the way he
inspired students and faculty.

Professor Pat Mantey remembers Huskey's wise counsel and insight, and
reflects that although his appointment was in the Computer Science
Department, it would not be a stretch to call Huskey the first computer
engineer on campus. Professor Manfred Warmuth remembers Harry's
"straightforward and down-to-earth" style, as well as his humorous side.

Professor Huskey joined the University of California, Santa Cruz faculty in
1967, after what would be considered an already full career by most
people's standards. He earned his Ph.D. in 1943 from Ohio State University
and took his first job as an assistant professor teaching mathematics at
the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter he secured a top-secret
development position at UPenn, unaware of any details about the project. It
turned out to be the ENIAC computer: the first fully programmable computer
designed in the United States. ENIAC was developed for the US Navy in
support of the war effort.

After the war, in 1946, Professor Huskey worked for a year with Alan Turing
in England. In 1950 he moved to California to continue his work in systems
design and architecture of smaller and more powerful computers and computer
systems, a theme that would follow his career. He joined UC Berkeley in
1955 as a professor of Electrical Engineering, and while there he
supervised the Ph.D. thesis of Niklaus Wirth who later developed the PASCAL
programming language.

In many ways, we have Harry to thank for setting us on the path to eminence
in computer science. While a professor at UC Santa Cruz, Huskey built one
of the first university computer centers. He also advised universities in
many parts of the globe on how to develop an academic computer science
program, and how to start their own computer centers. He spent two years in
India working at IIT Kanpur and Delhi University, helping them create their
own computer science programs and centers, and later went on to provide
technical support to the Yangon University in Burma (Myanmar).

In 1986 Huskey retired from the University of California. In 2015 he was
awarded the UC Santa Cruz Founding Faculty Award for his seminal work on
early and important computing systems and a lifetime of service to computer
education.

As Pat Mantey remarked, "I'm glad we got Harry here to see what has grown
from seeds he helped plant and nurture."

Those who knew Harry, both here in the Baskin School of Engineering and in
many other places around the world, will greatly miss him. Please join me
in honoring and remembering this remarkable leader. As a community, we
offer our condolences to the Huskey family.

A graveside service will be held at Santa Cruz Memorial at 1:00 p.m. on
Saturday April 15th, 1927 Ocean Street Extension.

*To recognize and honor Harry's many accomplishments, and to allow his
legacy to live on, particularly in the area of international engineering
education, Harry's family and two close friends from UC Santa Cruz have
created the "Harry Huskey Endowment for International Engineering
Education" (Huskey Endowment). **Please consider donating to this endowment
in Harry's honor.
<https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1069/index.aspx?sid=1069&gid=1&pgid=780&cid=1656&dids=801&bledit=1>*

Alexander L. Wolf

_________________________
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