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Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
August 9, 2012 Thursday
METRO EDITION
He helped build smaller computers
by DANIELA HERNANDEZ; STAFF WRITER, STAR TRIBUNE (Mpls.-St. Paul)
Harry J. Tashjian lived his life on the border between the worlds of
data and imagination. A mechanical engineer by training, he valued
hard facts and numbers, but he also saw the value of imagining a
future that didn't yet exist.
His forward thinking helped bring about the democratization of
computers as he led teams that developed midsize computers -- desktop
models much smaller than the room-size contraptions they replaced.
Tashjian, 90, worked at IBM in Rochester for more than 40 years. He
died July 27 after complications from a stroke.
Tashjian's new powerful but cheaper models were "a major technological
achievement," said Jeffrey Yost, associate director of the Charles
Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota. Two computer
families Tashjian helped create, System/3 and System/38, brought
computers into new settings such as small businesses and science
laboratories, Yost said.
The System/3 was the first computer system developed completely
in-house at Rochester, a feat possible because Tashjian was savvy
enough to call the technology a "unit record system" instead of a
computer. Before that, computer design was entrusted to IBM's New York
location.
Tashjian was a trusted leader who motivated his peers to live up to
their full potential, said his son, Edward. He had a knack for
organizing people and for getting things done right. But "he hated
public speaking. He could hardly sleep the night before," his son
said.
He remembers his dad best for his laughter and unrelenting optimism.
He donated to charities, funded scholarships, served in World War II
and was an active member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Rochester,
where he served as senior warden from 1974 to 1976.
Tashjian played violin and loved classical music. He woke up every day
by 5:30 a.m. and filled the house with recordings of Mozart, Bach and
Beethoven.
Tashjian valued education highly, his son said. Sports were not high
on his list of priorities, although he often joked that he couldn't
die until the Vikings won the Super Bowl.
Tashjian and Alice, his wife of 62 years, met as children in Johnson
City, N.Y., and married in their late 20s after finishing college and
graduate school. Their families emigrated to the United States after
the Armenian holocaust.
Tashjian donated his body to science so medical students and
researchers could learn from it. "My dad hated the idea of his body
being taxidermied like a stuffed fish," Edward said. "To the very end,
he was giving himself away."
Tashjian is survived by his wife, three sons, Joseph, Edward and
Christopher; daughter Francine and 11 grandchildren. A memorial
service will be held at 1201 Yale Place, Minneapolis, from 3 to 4 p.m.
on Aug. 24, Tashjian's birthday.
August 9, 2012 Thursday
METRO EDITION
He helped build smaller computers
by DANIELA HERNANDEZ; STAFF WRITER, STAR TRIBUNE (Mpls.-St. Paul)
Harry J. Tashjian lived his life on the border between the worlds of
data and imagination. A mechanical engineer by training, he valued
hard facts and numbers, but he also saw the value of imagining a
future that didn't yet exist.
His forward thinking helped bring about the democratization of
computers as he led teams that developed midsize computers -- desktop
models much smaller than the room-size contraptions they replaced.
Tashjian, 90, worked at IBM in Rochester for more than 40 years. He
died July 27 after complications from a stroke.
Tashjian's new powerful but cheaper models were "a major technological
achievement," said Jeffrey Yost, associate director of the Charles
Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota. Two computer
families Tashjian helped create, System/3 and System/38, brought
computers into new settings such as small businesses and science
laboratories, Yost said.
The System/3 was the first computer system developed completely
in-house at Rochester, a feat possible because Tashjian was savvy
enough to call the technology a "unit record system" instead of a
computer. Before that, computer design was entrusted to IBM's New York
location.
Tashjian was a trusted leader who motivated his peers to live up to
their full potential, said his son, Edward. He had a knack for
organizing people and for getting things done right. But "he hated
public speaking. He could hardly sleep the night before," his son
said.
He remembers his dad best for his laughter and unrelenting optimism.
He donated to charities, funded scholarships, served in World War II
and was an active member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Rochester,
where he served as senior warden from 1974 to 1976.
Tashjian played violin and loved classical music. He woke up every day
by 5:30 a.m. and filled the house with recordings of Mozart, Bach and
Beethoven.
Tashjian valued education highly, his son said. Sports were not high
on his list of priorities, although he often joked that he couldn't
die until the Vikings won the Super Bowl.
Tashjian and Alice, his wife of 62 years, met as children in Johnson
City, N.Y., and married in their late 20s after finishing college and
graduate school. Their families emigrated to the United States after
the Armenian holocaust.
Tashjian donated his body to science so medical students and
researchers could learn from it. "My dad hated the idea of his body
being taxidermied like a stuffed fish," Edward said. "To the very end,
he was giving himself away."
Tashjian is survived by his wife, three sons, Joseph, Edward and
Christopher; daughter Francine and 11 grandchildren. A memorial
service will be held at 1201 Yale Place, Minneapolis, from 3 to 4 p.m.
on Aug. 24, Tashjian's birthday.