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William F. Simon November 9, 1927 – August 12, 2006
William
Frederick (Bill) Simon, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, died peacefully at
home Bill grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, graduating from St. Dominic’s elementary school in 1941 and Calvert Hall College High School in 1945. He then spent a year as an undergraduate physics major at Loyola College in Baltimore. Bill received a draft notice in 1946, but the date on which he was to report fell on the day after the conscription provisions of the selective service act expired. Eager to avail himself of the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill, though, he enlisted in the Army and served from May 1946 to November 1947 in the Army Signal Corps. This experience spurred his decision to become an electrical engineer. Bill studied electrical engineering at Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) in Philadelphia from 1948 to 1952, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in June 1952, in the top 10 percent of his class. It was at Drexel that Bill met his future wife, Catherine Ann Dolan, who was studying chemical engineering. They were married at St. Carthage’s Roman Catholic Church on May 9, 1953. Bill continued graduate studies in electrical engineering at night at the University of Pennsylvania from 1953-1959, while working, first at the Philco Corporation and then at Remington Rand Univac, a division of the Sperry Rand Corporation (now known as Unisys Corporation). Bill’s professional work had him at the forefront of the electronics revolution, first as part of the team developing color television at Philco in Philadelphia, and then in the computer industry at Univac in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. When Univac shipped the world’s first “supercomputer” (known as LARC) to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1960, Bill was chosen as the group supervisor for the successful installation and testing of the computer on site. He subsequently supervised groups carrying out circuit design and then system design for a series of computer systems developed by Univac during the 1960s. One of his notable accomplishments was the Univac 9200/9300 series of computers, for which he was the Engineering Manager of System Design. During the 1970s, Bill was Director of Product Technology at Sperry Univac, overseeing Univac’s work at the forefront of developing large scale integrated circuits and other key components of mainframe computers. When Sperry Univac merged with Burroughs Corporation to form Unisys Corporation, he was placed in charge of all management information systems for engineering and software in the Computer Systems Group for Unisys. It was from this position that Bill retired in 1991. Over the course of his professional career, he was awarded 6 U.S. patents for innovations in computer logic and circuit design. During his professional career, Bill taught after-hours courses in advanced electronics at Univac, graduate-level classes in electrical engineering at Drexel, and, in later years, an evening course in BASIC programming at Ursinus College. He wrote numerous technical reports and articles, including the first chapter in the Mc-Graw Hill handbook, Electronic Systems Design. Bill’s enthusiasm in the professional sphere was mirrored by his volunteerism after hours. He was active in a supporting role in the Cub Scout and Boy Scout activities of his children, serving as Chair of the Cub Scout Pack Committee for Pack 427 at Queen of Peace Church in Ardsley, Pennsylvania, and on the Troop Committee for Troop 634 at St. Alphonsus Church in Maple Glen, Pennsylvania. After retiring, Bill enjoyed a wide range of volunteer activities, including tutoring elementary school children at Our Lady of Hope School in North Philadelphia and teaching English as a second language to adults. Bill was well known for his good humor, optimism, and love of singing and poetry. He leaves behind his wife of 53 years, Catherine Simon; four children and their spouses: John and Caitlin (Christoffel) Simon of Sonoma, California; Bob and Karen (Barcant) Simon of Berwyn Heights, Maryland; Ann (Simon) and Bill Comstock of Kailua, Hawaii; Jim and Michelle (Zuccarello) Simon of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and 11 grandchildren. He is also survived by five siblings and their spouses: Agnes (Simon) and W. Edward Riesett of Baltimore; Mary (Simon) and Henry Bottner of Mitchellville, Maryland; Carolyn (Simon) and Richard Broadwell of Whiting, New Jersey; Frank and Mary Clare (Boyle) Simon of Baltimore; Anita (Simon) Wild of Westminster, Maryland; and approximately 30 nieces and nephews.
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on Saturday evening, August 12, after a long struggle with cancer.
He was 78 years old. Bill was born on November 9, 1927, in Bowie,
Maryland. His parents were Frank C. Simon, who worked for the U.S.
Railway Post Office, and Anne M. (Gibmeyer) Simon, a homemaker. 
