Since the printing of the Fall 2009 issue of the EMC Newsletter, it saddens me to report that Ralph Calcavecchio passed away. Many thanks to Dave Arnett of HP Vancouver and to Adele Calcavecchio who provided the following tribute to Ralph.
I would like to continue to solicit your support in helping me receive the names of EMC Society members that have recently passed away. You can either forward them directly to your local Chapter chair, or if you don’t know who that is, you can forward the names to me (d.heirman@ieee.org) or a member of the Completed Careers Committee directly, including Bruce Archambeault, Don Sweeney, and Andy Drozd. See page 3 of this Newsletter or the EMC Society website (www.emcs.org) for contact information of these committee members.
Thank you in advance for your assistance as we honor EMC Society members who have completed their careers.
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Ralph J. Calcavecchio
1929–2009 |
Ralph J. Calcavecchio, 80, of Brook St. in Kingston, NY, formerly of West Chester St., who worked at IBM as an engineer from 1954 to 2002, died at home on Monday, December 28 of liver and bone cancer. After retiring, he consulted for IBM and other companies and continued to work on national and international standards committees on electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and radio interference until December 2004. During his career he invented measuring devices which are still used by IBM and won several awards. He was appointed the Standards Project Authority within IBM. His work took him to six continents. Through his work, as one colleague has said, he managed to turn phenomena perceived as “black magic” into a recognized scientific discipline. His negotiating skills led to the adoption of significant world-wide radio interference standards. He also wrote EMC standards for the United States. In 1994 and 1995, he hosted working group meetings of the International Special Committee on Radio Interference in Kingston. He also served on committees of the European Computer Manufacturers Association, American National Standards Institute, U.S. National Committee Technical Advisory Group (Honorary Life Member), Advisory Committee on EMC, Computer Business Equipment Manufacturers Association, the Electric Power Research Institute – Power Electronics Applications Center, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) EMC Society. Ralph explained that he worked to ensure that computers would not “short out” themselves or other appliances by discharging static electricity in homes and businesses. EMC |
Completed Careers