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nonimpact printing, and physical sciences. The new laboratory continued the exploration of his many “new territory” exploratory developments. In 1965 Rey was made an IBM Fellow. He then devoted himself to concepts, such as a learning center which developed the form factor for the present videocassette, which he felt could have an impact on education. After retirement he and his wife, Bea founded Education Engineering Associates and explored numerous ideas, including a small plastic disk that could be built into books and read by a handheld reader to supplement reading in textbooks with audio, could be used to play bird sounds for bird watcher books, or could be used for reading and talking language books; the Talk to Me Books microphonograph was acquired by Fisher Price. One of Rey's last projects was a Chinese-language typewriter. His inventions continued throughout his career in IBM and after, with the total number running into the nineties and with the span varying from test scoring to Data Recording to Education Systems.
Reynold B. Johnson believed in being a member of organizations that supported his many and varied interests. These included professional societies, educational societies, and civic societies, including the National Academy of Engineering, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Education Association, Association for Education Data Systems, the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, and the Silicon Valley Engineering Council.
Rey was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1981. He received numerous awards for his work, including the president's National Medal of Technology in 1986, the Founder's Gold Medal from the Educational Records Bureau in 1997, the Computer Pioneer Award from the IEEE in 1987, and the Magnetics Society Award for Information Storage in 1989.
Reynold B. Johnson is survived by his wife, Beatrice; sons, Philip and David; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; a sister; and two brothers. The original farm is still run within the family.