2. Testimonials/Obits

- Submitted by Lee Purrier via Al Peterson
    Very sorry to hear about Jim he was a gem among fine jewelry.  If you ever have the chance to tell his family - let them know that he contributed more as an individual than any other computer scientist I met in almost 40 years, and he never even made anyone feel uncomfortable in his presence.  I will spread the word to the old group.
     Couldn't help but look back on the period that we worked together on EPLRS and even before that on various MTASS/CMS-2 stuff and I wanted to write something down that may be a bit different from the tributes paid to Jim following his untimely passing.  If I could speak to his parents and immediate family I would say something like this.        Jim Bergum's contributions to the readiness of our military - Army, Marines, and Navy - went far beyond the engineering excellence he provided.  I met Jim in 1991 when I was the Project Head of the multi-service program called EPLRS, a very complex computer/radio system that provided position location and communication among the combat elements.  At the time, Hughes had spent 18 years and several billion dollars getting the system to the point of almost being useful but was in danger of being cancelled because of cost, enormous size equipment and recurring technical problems.  I had no real help among the 50 or so people at Camp Pendleton so I contacted Al Peterson to see if his team could provide some sorely needed assistance.   In short, he sent Jim out to reprogram the software in a big computer to demonstrate that it could operate effectively in a much smaller one which Hughes and all others said was not possible.  Jim made it work in less than six months and launched a modernization program that saved the program.  From that point on, whenever there were hurdles to overcome, schedules to be met that my own team couldn't seem to accomplish, I would call for Jim and he would spend a few days out here in San Diego and leave with everything humming.
     Although this may sound like ordinary engineering work, it had the profound effect of saving many Soldiers and Marines lives and injury during the Iraq conflict.  Having saved this very critical system that was the backbone of General Frank's command and control capability allowing him to direct the forces intelligently and, in many cases, out of harm's way.  The contributions of this system cannot be overstated and it may not have been there if Jim hadn't been called to action.
     In forty years in the computer business, I never met a more dedicated, competent, engineer and simply great guy. vr, Lee Purrier

- as extracted and edited from the August 10, 2003 Star Tribune obit section:
Arnold was solving engineering problems for computer hardware in the Twin Cities when computers barely existed.  He is considered one of the founding engineers of Engineering Research Associates (ERA) which became part of the Remington Rand Corp. in the 1950s.  That company then became the UNIVAC division of Sperry Rand, now known as UNISYS.  ERA was started in 1946 by a group of Navy 'code-busters' including William Norris, who later founded Control Data Corp.
     An early project was figuring out what eventually was patented as "selectively alterable digital storage on revolving magnetic drums." That meant having a way of locating a bit of information you want to change then being able to change it, said Sid Rubens, who also joined ERA in 1946.  The patent awarded to Cohen and two other became basic in the field.  Cohen led a system design that became the Atlas I, believed to be the first stored-program electronic digital computer actually shipped to a customer site, according to "Computer Pioneers", published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
     In October 1950, the Atlas I - all 2,700 vacuum tubes of it - was sealed in a railroad car and shipped to Washington, D.C. according to Warren Burrell who worked with Cohen.  The customer was a unit of the navy that later became part of the National Security Agency.
     In the early 60s, Cohen was invited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to participate in Project MAC, or Multiple Access Computer and Machine-Aided Cognition.  Part of the work was getting computers to talk to each other.  When he returned to UNIVAC a year later, he started wok on the first multi-computer system which was sold in 1965 to United Airlines for reservations work.
     In 1971, Cohen became assistant dean for industrial and professional relations at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology.  He helped develop an early version of distance education via TV and telephone hookups because IBM in Rochester wanted to offer technology courses on-site.  {Editor's note: UNIVAC/UNISYS personnel also participated with the University's UNITE classes in Plant 8 - see Keith Myhre's career summary.} 

     After retiring from the university in 1979, he was active in founding the Charles Babbage Institute, a center for the history of information processing, now part of the University of Minnesota.  {Editor's note: Dr. Cohen is mentioned in several other publications which chronicle the early years of ERA.}

2.6 Higginbotham, Grover Stanley (Obit edited from the July 10, 2007 Minneapolis Star Tribune) age 92, of Edina, Minnesota and Naples, Florida, died July 8, 2007.  One of the youngest graduates United States Naval Academy, class of 1935.  He had a distinguished 29-year career as a United States naval officer.  His first ship was the battleship U.S.S. Arizona (BB-39) from 1935 to 1938 where he served in the Gunnery and Engineering departments.  During WWII, he served aboard the battleship U.S.S. Texas (BB-35), and was promoted to commanding officer of the destroyer U.S.S. Albert W. Grant (DD-649) in the Pacific where he received the Bronze Star.  After the war he attended the Army Guided Missile School in Ft. Bliss, TX, and graduated from the Naval War College in Newport, RI. Later notable career assignments included staff officer to the Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon; Chief of Staff to Commander Cruiser Division Two, United States Sixth Fleet; commanding officer U.S.S. Ponchatoula (AO-148), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the then largest oil tanker in the Navy; commanding officer Destroyer Squadron 25 ("The Pineapple Fleet"), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the then largest destroyer squadron in the Navy; and Chief of Staff to Commander United States 7th Fleet, Yokosuka, Japan.
     Upon retirement from the Navy as a Captain, he worked for 15 years in management for Sperry Univac at their offices in Salt Lake City, UT, Los Angeles, CA, and St. Paul, MN.  In Salt Lake City he earned a Master's Degree in Engineering Administration from the University of Utah and was made a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honorary society.  While in Los Angeles he headed the development of the on-board computer system for the S-3A carrier-based anti-submarine aircraft built by Lockheed.  He continued to provide consulting services to Univac after retirement.  He and Vivian traveled extensively with destinations to China, Europe, and an around-the-world cruise.  His family lost a loving husband and father; our communities lost a dear friend; and our country lost an honored patriot and a wonderful ambassador.