#117) 2014 - A Year In Review

Happy New Year to All,

2014 was a busy and eventful year, culminating with the Librascope Reunion in November. About 80 people attended, and a good time was had by all. Several photos were taken which will soon be published on the Librascope Memories website. Note, photos from the 1999, 2000, and 2002 Reunions are also in process, along with a couple "new" 1997 Librascope videos.

In April, the Librascope Memories website marked its 5 year anniversary, and two books of significant interest to Libravets were reviewed during the year. See Posts #102, 108, and 109 below.

Sadly, 2014 also marked the passing of four senior members of the Librascope management staff. Chuck Steele left us in April, followed by Jerry Deitz in July, Walt Picker in October, and Hank Pinczower in November. Stan Williams' and Jim Conway's passings were also reported on.

If you missed any 2014 news items, links to all the news blog postings are listed below.

Stay tuned during 2015,
Carl

#116) Services for Henry (Hank) Pinczower

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#115) In Memoriam - Walter James Picker, 1929 - 2014

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#114) A Genealogist Needs Your Help

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#113) 2014 Librascope Reunion Is Only 17 Days Away!

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#112) A Letter For All Libravets From Grant Corcoran

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#111) You're Invited to the 2014 Librascope Reunion

#110) In Memoriam - Jerry Deitz

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#109) My review of Disney's new book about a Libravet

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#108) Disney Releases New Book About Former Libravet

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#107) Update - A "Race for Hope" for Walt Picker

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#106) Wow, 5 Years Of Librascope Memories!

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#105) In Memoriam - Charles "Chuck" Steele

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#104) A Race for Hope for Walt Picker

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#103) INSIDE LOOK at 21st CENTURY STEALTH SUBMARINE

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#102) Madcaps, Millionaires, and "Mose"

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#101) In Memoriam - Stanley Eugene Williams

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#100) The 2014 Reunion Is November 1st - Please RSVP Now.

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#99) In Memoriam - James Norman Conway

#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.

#60) A Response to the "Building 28" Bar Question - Post #57

Jim Conway, formerly listed on "Currently Lost Libravets" (click here), recently wrote us:

I worked at Librascope from 1957 until 1964. I was fortunate to have one of the best bosses, Lane Wolman, I ever worked for. I started at Librascope after graduating from UCLA, and I left to join Scientific Data Systems which was later purchased by Xerox.

As to "Building 28", it was actually called "Ken and Rod's", and it was located off of San Fernando Road. It was known for its cheap draft beer, hamburgers, and chili. There were baskets of peanuts to go with the draft beer, and the floor was covered with peanut shells. They also cashed checks on pay day.

We had many engineering meetings at Building 28!

Where do I register as a Librascope alumni?
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E-mail subscribers - click here to go to the Home page of the Librascope Memories - News Blog, where you can review Blog Posts #1 - 60, read other reader's comments, and record your own comments. 

#47) A Voice From The Past - George Leiby

A person named George Leiby recently subscribed to this News Blog, but since he wasn't on our master mailing list I wasn't sure he was a Libravet. That led to the following exchange of e-mails:

Hi George,

Thank you for subscribing to our Librascope Memories - News Blog. How did you hear about the Blog?

I didn't recognize your e-mail address, so I searched our on-line Librazettes, and found a G. J. Leiby on page 11 of the September, 1961 issue. Is that you? I was first at Librascope from 1958 to 1961, then I returned in 1986 and retired in 1997.

Hope to hear from you,

Carl

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Hi Carl,

Nice for you to write me. The Librascope experience is one of my fondest memories.

I really don't know how I ended up at your site. I was doing some research on the Burroughs Atlas program and ended up on the Librascope site where Wes Stupar had sent you a note about the short book he has written. As Librascope made the plotters used in the Atlas program, maybe I was searching for something about them.

In any case, Wes hired me, probably in 1961 or so as a field engineer for the FAA program, for either in the Silicon Valley area or at NAFEC in New Jersey. I spent several months studying the drum memory system used on that program and I suppose became more or less an expert with Bryant drums and the drum logic and electronics. I think that Viv Ninninger was the person responsible that part of the system and think that I indirectly reported to him.

I went out to NAFEC in Jersey, only about 40 miles from where my folks lived. I stayed at home, collecting per diem for about six months and then got married to a local girl. When the FAA contract went belly up, Ninninger, I think, invited me to work in engineering on an interface he designed for the Air Force contract, 473L? At that time Viv had left Librascope and was partners in a company called Abacus, co-founded with I think Chuck Davies?? In any case I worked at Librascope for Paul Hickey and later Jim Conway, doing a redesign of the Disk File Interface and the debug of some logic designed by a consultant, John Francis, called a multicolor display interface?? and something else John did, maybe a multichannel interface, that unless this lazy guy looks at some old resumes, will have to be unidentified.

As the 473L design phase wound down, I became itchy for new challenges and headed off to Data Products, which is an altogether different story.

I may have a Librascope Engineering telephone listing or two for the 1960 through 1963 era if this information would be of interest.

Finally, I am trying to find out how to purchase the Stupar book. If you could direct me on this it would be appreciated. I suspect that Wes will have a great perspective on this time interval that we were so lucky to have in this silly computer business.

George

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Hi George,

Thank you for responding. Your e-mail story is the kind of thing that other Libravets enjoy reading about. So, would you mind if I posted our first two e-mails (minus the address headers) on our Librascope Blog? As you noted, I did this for when Wes first contacted me. The latest e-mail address I have for Wes is still: compaps@roadrunner.com. I'm sure he would like to hear from you. If you don't hear back from him, try leaving a "Comment" beneath his post (#7).

Yes, I would certainly like to have any old Librascope Phone Books, Brochures, etc. that you may have. My collection is large, but will never be complete. By the way, there are quite a few documents from the 1960's era on our main web-site. It's at www.librascopememories.com. Look on the Librazettes+ page toward the bottom.

Thanks again George. Keep in touch.

Carl

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Carl, 

Post whatever you like. Thanks for the Stupar address. As we will be leaving for a five week stay on Tybee Island, GA Sunday I probably won't have time to sort out what little Librascope stuff I have and send it to you. However, I will do it late in January when I return.

I appreciate you making the very big effort to keep Librascope memories alive. And yes, I know what a big time consuming time it can be.

George

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