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RO B ER T W. G U N DLAC H
1926–2010
Elected in 1994
“For contributions to the development of xerographic copying and printing,
including manifold inventions.”
BY DAN A. HAYS
SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY
ROBERT W. GUNDLACH, a prodigious inventor of
photocopying technology at Xerox Corporation, died on
August 18, 2010, in Rochester, New York, at the age of 83.
Robert, or Bob as he was called by his many friends, was
born in Ebenezer, New York, a small town near Buffalo,
on September 7, 1926. His father, Emanuel, was a chemist
who invented the hair-dressing Wildroot Cream-Oil. His
grandfather was a minister in the German Reformed Church,
but Emanuel and his family became members of a pacifist
organization called the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Bob
attended the University of Buffalo but was drafted after the
end of his freshman year. After a year in conscientious objector
camps, he returned to the University of Buffalo and switched
his initial major from chemistry to physics. He obtained a
B.S. degree in 1949 and continued graduate work in physics
toward an M.S. degree.
In seeking a job, Bob was interested in companies that did not
do war work. He found a job at Durez Plastics and Chemicals
in the physical testing laboratory. In 1952 he learned from a
University of Buffalo classmate that the Haloid Company, a
small photographic firm in Rochester, New York, was hiring
for work on a new dry electrophotographic process for copying
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104 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
documents. He applied for a job and was immediately hired
after obtaining an exceptional score on a written physics test
and a promise from the firm’s president that he would not
work on military projects.
Bob quickly had a large impact on the company by
coming up with three patentable ideas within his first year.
His early inventions in electrophotography had a profound
influence in enabling the firm to generate a new revenue
stream through the leasing of equipment to produce masters
for offset printing machines. When Chester Carlson, inventor
of electrophotography, saw one of Bob’s early inventions, he
was compelled to remark, “Bob, you are an inventor!” This
positive reinforcing statement from Carlson had a profound
motivating effect on Bob. In Bob’s lifetime he received 163
patents.
Rapid growth in the new electrophotographic business of
the Haloid Company led to its ultimate transformation into
the Xerox Corporation. The success of electrophotography
was propelled by the introduction of automatic copiers, as
exemplified by the Xerox 914 brought to market in 1959. Bob
contributed many technological advances required for higher
speed electrophotographic copying and printing, for not only
black-and-white but also color printers. Perhaps Bob’s most
novel patent disclosed a process for producing black and
colored prints in a single-pass printer that was introduced to
the market in 1991.
Beyond Bob’s many technical contributions to the Xerox
Corporation, he played a central role in a number of patent
litigation lawsuits. The combination of his broad knowledge
of electrophotographic technology and his excellent
communication skills proved to be effective in obtaining
favorable verdicts for Xerox.
Bob’s passion was to solve technical problems through
laboratory experiments. As such, he was not interested in
pursuing a managerial career. Due to Bob’s many technical
achievements over the years, Xerox’s management decided
to institute a dual-ladder promotion system, whereby the
significant achievements of individual contributors could be
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RO B ER T W. G U N DLAC H 105
recognized in a manner similar to the recognition afforded those
in management. Bob was among four to first be recognized as
a “principal scientist” in 1963. In 1966 he was named Xerox’s
first research fellow. In 1978 he was appointed the first senior
research fellow—the highest recognition bestowed on an
individual contributor by the company.
Bob’s many honors and awards included the Charles E. Ives
Award for “Best Paper of the Year” in 1963, the Inventor of the
Year Award granted by the Rochester Patent Law Association
in 1974, the Kosar Memorial Award from the Society of
Photographic Scientists and Engineers in 1976, the Johann
Gutenberg Prize from the Society for Information Display
in 1993, the Carlson Memorial Award from the Society of
Photographic Scientists and Engineers in 1986, the Fellowship
Award from the Society of Imaging Science and Technology
in 1991, the Clifford C. Furnal Award from the University of
Buffalo in 1992, the Xerox President’s Award in both 1979 and
1995 for Lifetime Achievement, and the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Electrostatics Society of America in 1997.
He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in
1994 and inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
in 2005.
Bob was a positive role model to all who knew him. He was
kind and charming to all, regardless of their station in life. He
had close relationships spanning the full range of employees
from those at entry-level jobs to the chief executive officers
of Xerox. His interesting presentations were always a delight
to audience members, as evidenced by the attentive glow on
their faces.
Bob always exhibited much self-confidence regardless of his
particular interest. He loved challenges, such as those provided
by the many technical problems in electrophotography. His
love of challenges extended to a variety of sports, including
downhill skiing (often with family members), cross-country
skiing, jogging, canoeing, tennis, swimming, walking on his
hands, and windsurfing. He was always physically fit by
virtue of aerobic exercises, strength training such as chin-ups,
and a healthy diet. Bob always looked for ways to make a
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106 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
game of whatever he was doing. In driving to work during
the spring, the challenge was to see how many different birds
one could identify. My son said that Bob could even make fun
out of going over speed bumps. The challenge was to apply
the brakes at the right moment to minimize the car bounce.
Bob had a deep love of mankind and nature. In his mind,
greater efforts in diplomacy were needed to circumvent wars
between nations. He marveled at the variety of life in animals
and birds. He was an enthusiastic bird watcher with a lifetime
list of 138 species. He enjoyed spending time at a wooded
Gundlach family retreat south of Buffalo called “Starlit,”
which provided much solace and family fellowship in a
natural setting.
Bob had excellent leadership skills due to his breadth of
knowledge and pleasant personality. Soon after he joined the
Haloid Company, he was asked to lead a Boy Scout troop from
the city of Rochester on a camping trip to the Adirondacks.
Bob knew he could not take that much time off having just
started work, but the president of Haloid recognized the
importance of Bob’s scouting leadership and granted him the
time off. Another example of Bob’s many talents and interest
in helping others was his willingness to serve on the National
Advisory Board for the Children’s Television Workshop from
1979 to 1984.
Much of electrophotographic technology exploits various
applications of electrostatics. Bob had a well-grounded
understanding of electrostatics principles. Due to this expertise,
he was one of the charter members of the Electrostatics Society
of America, which formed in 1970. He was president of ESA
from 1977 to 1981 and served on the Board of Advisors from
1981 to 1994. Bob had an uncanny ability to listen to an ESA
presentation and then suggest several applications of the
technology that might be patentable.
Consistent with his love of nature, Bob was passionate
about conserving natural resources. He had the means to be
a lavish consumer, but he chose to live a frugal life. He drove
a diesel Volkswagen Rabbit (about 50 mpg!) in the 1970s and
made every effort to carpool. He would temporarily repair
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the rusty exhaust system with cans and wire to extend its life.
His passion for conservation was the motivation for inventing
more efficient snow-making machines and heat pump systems
during his postretirement years.
Bob is survived by his wife of 60 years, Audrey B. Gundlach;
his brother, Arthur Gundlach; sons Gregory E. Gundlach of
Vermont, Eric R. Gundlach of Maryland, and Kurt B. Gundlach
of Massachusetts; and 10 grandchildren.
