Deceased April 5, 2014

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In Memory 

My father, George A. Grover ’51, died April 5 in Greenfield of pneumonia. He was 84. My dad was a gentle and cerebral man. I think back fondly on going to his Amherst reunions as a boy, which ultimately led me to Amherst as well.

My dad loved his time at Amherst. At his 50th reunion he wrote, “For the boy that was me, coming to Amherst from Ottawa, Illinois, was the beginning of a time of awakening and a kind of liberation both personal and intellectual.… My Amherst years stand out as on the whole one of the peak periods of my life, a long episode of almost enchantment.”

After Amherst, when computers used vacuum tubes and were used by government and a handful of large corporations, he joined IBM, and through one of my uncles met my mother at a party in New York City. In the ’60s he was the principal architect of IBM’s 360 operating system, which in its day reigned supreme. He spent his last professional decades at IBM’s research lab.

While he was an accomplished mathematician and a world-class systems architect and computer scientist, what would first strike any visitor was his library of operas and books on bookshelves and in piles throughout his house. At Amherst my father liked English best and later loved to write and read poetry.

The last several years, however, were terrible, because, while the warm and gentle soul was always there, the keen and engaged mind slipped away. While his final death hurt, it many ways it was a blessing. Now he is at peace.

I count myself lucky he was my father. The world is poorer without George Grover. He leaves five children: Gavin, Wendy, Christopher, Margot and me and nine grandchildren.

Eric Grover ’79