Tuesday, January 28, 2014

#99) In Memoriam - James Norman Conway

The following obituary was received recently from Carolyn Conway, Jim's wife:

James Norman Conway was born in Bristol, Connecticut on August 24, 1935. His father died when he was nine. When Jim was 14 he moved to North Hollywood with his mother and brother, Bill. He attended North Hollywood High School, Valley Junior College and UCLA graduating in 1957. 

Jim's first job was with Librascope's Special Devices Division. There he met Carolyn Cardozo who joined the company in 1959. They married October 8, 1960.

While at Librascope Jim worked on the 473L Command and Control system, both in logic design and as one of the group managers. In this area, he was much appreciated for his work ethic, engineering and management capabilities, and even more so for his very special sense of humor. In 1964 Jim left Librascope. 

Subsequently, Jim worked for Bunker Ramo and Scientific Data Systems (SDS), which was purchased by Xerox. While with SDS, his most favored position was head of the West Coast Systems Division. It was there that he displayed his innate entrepreneurship. He was respected for his judgment, fairness and expertise. After the sale of XDS to Honeywell, the Printing Systems Division was formed essentially from the nucleolus of XDS, and Jim was made VP of Engineering and Manufacturing. It was there that the popular 9700 was launched. The 9700 was one of the most profitable products ever offered by Xerox and it made Jim exceptionally proud.

Later, Jim was picked to head Century Data Systems in Anaheim. Retiring in 1987, he accepted a position with start-up Cherokee Data Systems in Boulder, Colorado, where he stayed three and a half years. Later, he worked for MOST in Cypress, California, commuting to a facility in Colorado Springs. He retired permanently in 1997.

Always an avid golfer, Jim greatly enjoyed playing with old friends for many years before his health failed. He courageously dealt with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and prostate cancer until graduating from life in Corona del Mar to eternal life in Heaven on October 11, 2013.

Besides Carolyn, Jim leaves sons James Jr., Jeff and Craig, grand-daughters Brianna and Casandra and honorary grandson Brandon Loveladdy. We cherish our memories of Jim and the blessing he was to each of us.

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