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B O B O V ER T O N E VA N S
1927–2004
Elected in 1970
“For personal and leadership contributions to the development of
computer technology and the design of computer systems.”
BY GENE M. AMDAHL
I first met Bob Evans in the summer of 1952 at the IBM
laboratory in Poughkeepsie, New York. I had just arrived in
Poughkeepsie in June as a new employee. Bob was associated
with the same engineering group that I was entering, the
group that had designed the IBM 701 computer. At that time
most of the engineers were involved in supporting the field
engineering activities, but Bob was working on the design and
implementation of a graphical display system for the RAND
Corporation. We became friends right away, and I was excited
to see the engineering techniques he employed in the display
system, which turned out to be very effective.
With many of the original planners of the IBM 701 assigned
to the Sage System, I was assigned the task of planning the
follow-on to the IBM 701—the IBM 704. I did the defining
of the 704, including floating point and indexing. Bob Evans
and the other 701 engineers did the logic designs involved in
implementation of the changes. The market size estimation for
the IBM 704 was 32, but the actual number sold was 140, so
it was a remarkably profitable program! I was then asked to
plan the IBM 709. At this time Bob Evans was assigned to the
management of another project, so I lost track of him. I left
IBM in late 1955, when the laboratory structure was changed
and my project, Stretch (the IBM 7030), was altered, such that
I no longer had control of the planning. Bob was subsequently
involved as a project engineer in the Stretch I/O subsystem
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82 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
design. From there he became the assistant to J. A. Haddad,
director of advanced machine development, IBM Corporate
Headquarters.
In 1956, Bob became the technical assistant to E. R.
Piore, director of the newly formed IBM Research Division,
Corporate Headquarters. Additionally, he was given a special
assignment at the National Security Agency (NSA) to place a
special computer in operation. In 1957 he was systems manager
of Navy Development, Data Processing Division, where
he led the development of special electronic computers for
NSA, including SLED II, IBM’s first large-scale transistorized
computer, and other classified projects. In 1959 he was systems
manager of intermediate systems and developed the IBM 7070
in the Data Processing Division. And in the General Products
Division he developed the IBM 1440/1401G/1410 machines.
In 1960, E. R. Piore hired me to join the IBM Research
Division to head up the experimental machines department.
This was to be for a minimum of four months to a maximum
of seven months, at which time I was to be transferred to
IBM’s San Jose laboratory. I had just started at IBM when Bob
Evans requested me to meet with him at a budget session at
Jug End in New York state. There, I sat through requests for
funding hardware and software programs for two generations
of three different computer families, for the second generation
in each computer family was not quite compatible with the
first generation.
In August of 1961, Bob requested me to be in charge of the
design of the function and hardware of the members of what
became the family of System 360. Bob was to be in charge of
the corporate program.
I moved to Poughkeepsie into an area where Bob Evans
and his family lived. Our son played with their son, a bit
mischievously at times. Bob was vice president of development
of the Data Systems Division, Poughkeepsie, an organization
of more than 3,500 responsible for worldwide development of
System 360 and all other midrange and large system products.
Fred Brooks as corporate processor manager had responsibility
for assuring adherence to spread committee uniformity rules.
After four years (not four to seven months), I accepted
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B O B O V ER T O N E VA N S 83
a visiting professorship at Stanford, so IBM moved me to
California as promised. IBM also made me a fellow in January
1965. At that time Bob was made president of the Federal
Systems Division, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, concentrating
on advanced technology and systems for aerospace, such as
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Gemini
and Apollo programs.
In 1969, Bob was made president of the Systems
Development Division. He was responsible for management
of IBM’s principal computer product lines, including systems
programming, and development and manufacturing of
terminals and communications systems, point of sale, and
banking subsystems.
In 1972, Bob Evans was elected a vice president of IBM. In
1974 he initiated the IBM-Comsat partnership, which became
Satellite Business Systems. In 1977 he was made vice president
of engineering, programming, and technology, to ensure the
effectiveness of IBM’s wordwide technical activities.
On July 1, 1984, Bob took early retirement from IBM after 32
years, 9 months, to pursue other interests. He became general
partner at Hambrecht and Quist Venture Partners, becoming
managing partner in 1988. In 1995 he became president of
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation.
Bob had so many other activities and positions that it is
impossible to list them all here, but I must mention that he
received the Edwin H. Armstrong Achievement Award in
1984 from the IEEE Communications Society, and in 1985
President Ronald Reagan presented him with the National
Medal of Technology and Innovation for his work on IBM’s
System 360.
I thought Bob had the most fantastic memory of any person
I have known and felt that he related all previous experience
to any new circumstance immediately! Bob was also a loyal
and supportive friend and human being.
Bob is survived by his wife of 54 years, the former Maria
Bowman; three sons, Robert, Douglas, and David; a daughter,
Cathleen Licero, who works in marketing at IBM; and eight
grandchildren.
