Bob O. Evans -- A memory from his secretary

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Patsyc97 () aol com
Date: September 17, 2004 6:33:23 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Patsyc97 () aol com
Subject: Bob O. Evans -- Updated Copy

Dave --

 In checking out the Interesting People Messages, I thought I would 
send you some of my stories when I was a secretary to Bo Evans at IBM 
Poughkeepsie.  He was a great person to work for a a great asset to the 
IBM Corporation.

 Patsy Newman Costello
 Hyde Park, NY

 -----------------
MJV99 () optonline net, weissfw () optonline net



 NY Times -- Obituaries -- Sept. 6, 2004

Bob O. Evans, IBM mainframe pioneer, dies at 77

Steven Musil, Staff Writer, CNET News.com

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 Published: September 6, 2004

 Bob O. Evans, an IBM computer scientist who helped to develop the 
modern mainframe computer, died Thursday. He was 77.

 Evans died of heart failure at his home in the San Francisco suburb of 
Hillsborough, his son Robert Evans said.

 Evans began working at IBM in 1951 as a junior engineer after earning 
a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Iowa State 
University. When he retired from IBM 33 years later, he was vice 
president of engineering, programming and technology for the 
Corporation.

 In the 1960s, Evans led a team that developed a new class of mainframe 
computers called the System/360, or S/360, which allowed different 
applications to be run simultaneously. IBM invested $5 billion in the 
project at a time when the company's annual revenue came to $3.2 
billion.

 "Prior to the S/360, each computer was a unique system. They were made 
to an individual customer's order, and there was no continuity from 
design to design," Colette Martin, the director of zSeries products for 
IBM, told CNET News.com before the mainframe's 40th anniversary in 
April. "Prior to the S/360, they were single-application systems."

 The architecture introduced in the S/360 is still in use in IBM 
mainframes.

 In 1985, President Ronald Reagan recognized Evans' work on the project 
with the National Medal of Technology. In 1991, he was presented with a 
Computer Pioneer Award from the Computing Society of the Institute of 
Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

 From 1981 to 1995, Evans acted as a chief science adviser to the 
government of Taiwan, and later helped to start Taiwan's Vanguard 
International Semiconductor Corp.

 ------------------------------------------
 (note from Patsy Newman Costello)

 I was secretary to Bo Evans in Poughkeepsie when he came down from 
Endicott on the 1410 Transfer.  He was the Systems Planning and 
Development Manager at the South Road Lab and had 1400 people under him 
in Poughkeepsie, Endicott, Yorktown, and the Time & Life Bldg. in NYC.

 When he came to Poughkeepsie, he asked the Personnel Manager, "If your 
secretary were leaving tomorrow, who would you get to replace her?"  
John Isaacson's answer was me...and that's how I got the job.

 Bob Evans only slept four hours each night, and worked the other 20 
hours.  Needless to say, we needed two additional secretaries in the 
office just to keep up with him.

 He was responsible for the first STRETCH System that went to NASA at 
LosAlamos, New Mexico, and I had my picture taken by that system.

 Bob had a photographical memory and never forgot names.  One time I 
met a fellow who transferred from Endicott to Poughkeepsie who saw Bob 
Evans in the hall at IBM.  We were out at the Covered Wagon at a Wed. 
night Young Adults of Poughkeepsie gathering.  He said he didn't know 
whether to speak to Bob or not, as he had only met him once in a 
meeting in Endicott -- and at that meeting Bob was sitting in the back 
of the room reading his mail.  The fellow told me that the guy giving 
the presentation was amazed when Bob told him that the item he was 
talking about what not correct.  They all thought Bob wasn't paying 
attention.  Anyway, the young engineer didn't have to say hello to Bob, 
as Bob said hello to him first -- and by his name!  That fellow was 
absolutely amazed that Bob remembered him.  But that was his nature, he 
was always 'people oriented.'

 My average work week at that time was 70 hours!

 He flew his own Cessena 175 airplane, and I checked the weather 
conditions and filed his flight plans.  I remember the time I went to 
pick him up at the Dutchess County Airport, and he motioned for me to 
come over to the plane.  We flew up to Hyde Park, circled my house, and 
on the way back to Poughkeepsie, he said, "Do you want to go under or 
over the Mid-Hudson Bridge?"  I said, "Do you want to keep your pilot's 
license, or lose it -- it's your choice."  When the Broome County or 
Tri-Cities Airports in Endicott were fogged in, he would drive, 
dictating all the way to Endicott and pointing out the hot-spots along 
the way...like "They are dancing up a storm at the Brown's tonight."  
At that point I had to stop typing what he was dictating!

 He also became President of the IBM Federal Systems Division in 
Bethesda, Maryland, and as he was so valuable to IBM, they wouldn't let 
him fly his own plane anymore.  They sent him in the IBM plane, one of 
which was kept at the Dutchess County Airport.

 The last time I saw him in Poughkeepsie, he was conducting a Quarterly 
Review of Joe Isole's Design Practices area.  I was on a temp 
assignment in that area, and when he saw me outside the conference 
room, he stopped the whole meeting to come out to see me!  He was a 
dynamic person and a great asset to IBM and all who he met.

 And now you know the rest of the story...

 May Bo rest in peace!

 Patsy Newman Costello
 Secretary to Bob O. Evans
 IBM Poughkeepsie -- 1960


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