Ralph E. Griswold died in Tucson on October 4, 2006, of complications
from pancreatic cancer. He was Regents Professor Emeritus in the
Department of Computer Science at the University of Arizona.
Griswold was born in Modesto, California, in 1934. He was an award
winner in the 1952 Westinghouse National Science Talent Search and went
on to attend Stanford University, culminating in a PhD in Electrical
Engineering in 1962.
Griswold joined the staff of Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel,
New Jersey, and rose to become head of Programming Research and
Development. In 1971, he came to the University of Arizona to found the
Department of Computer Science, and he served as department head
through 1981. His insistence on high standards brought the department
recognition and respect. In recognition of his work the university
granted him the title of Regents Professor in 1990.
While at Bell Labs, Griswold led the design and implementation of the
groundbreaking SNOBOL4 programming language with its emphasis on string
manipulation and high-level data structures. At Arizona, he developed
the Icon programming language, a high-level language whose influence
can be seen in Python and other recent languages.
Griswold authored numerous books and articles about computer science.
After retiring in 1997, his interests turned to weaving. While
researching mathematical aspects of weaving design he collected and
digitized a large library of weaving do***ents and maintained a public
website. He published technical monographs and weaving designs that
inspired the work of others, and he remained active until his final
week.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gregg Townsend Staff Scientist The University of Arizona
gmt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Computer Science Tucson, Arizona, USA
|
