David Harris Memorial
David Harris the eldest of three sons of Alfred and Victoria Harris passed away after a brief illness on December 22, 2011. David was both a family leader and the principal author of much of this site. Below are photographs and memories from his memorial.
Obituary written by son Scott Harris
Born June 7, 1931 in East
Sheen, a suburb of London, England in the London Borough of Richmond upon
Thames
to Alfred and Victoria Harris, he immigrated with his family which included his
younger brothers Michael and Godfrey (AKA, Jeffrey) to the United States in 1939
where they first settled in Manhattan's Upper West Side and summered in Long
Island's Long Beach. In 1944 the family moved to Los Angeles' Cheviot Hills
where they maintained the same home for 60 years.
In the years directly after World War II, David was one of Los Angeles' first "Hot Rod" enthusiasts and was an active participant in the automobile modification culture that was incubated in the Los Angeles area.
David graduated from Los Angeles' Hamilton High School and attended Santa Monica College before enlisting in the US Navy to serve during the Korean War. Stationed aboard the USS Sperry in Sasebo Harbor Japan, David achieved the rank of Petty Officer First Class and served as a paymaster for the section of the Pacific Fleet's Submarine Squadron assigned to the Western Pacific. David enjoyed his service in the US Navy and the opportunities it afforded him to be exposed to the people of Japan. It was during David's time in the Navy that he became interested in "Business Machines" and "Tabulating Machines," the precursors to today's computers.
Leaving the US Navy with an Honorable Discharge, David returned to Los Angeles. With a young family to support, David soon found work in the Tabulation Department of Hawthorne, California's Northrop Aircraft Corporation where he programmed a thyratron tube-operated Univac computer. David was proud that his work contributed to the design of the tail section of the T-38/F-5/F-20 family of military aircraft that are still in service with many air forces around the world.
David left Northrop to work as a civilian contractor to the US Air Forces' Pacific Missile Range at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California's Santa Barbara County. Specializing in telemetry recording and analysis of data being transmitted by early polar orbital space vehicles and strategic warheads, David contributed to the very beginnings of the "Space Race." It was at the Pacific Missile Range that David got his first exposure to IBM main frame computers.
David parlayed his experience with main frames
to land a job with Lockheed Aircraft's Space Division in Sunnyvale, California.
His computer programming skills were employed to help design the Agena Target
Vehicle which was used by NASA astronauts during the Gemini space missions to
practice orbital space rendezvous
and docking techniques in preparation for the Apollo program lunar missions.
By the mid 1960's, David was recruited to work for IBM in their Los Gatos, California laboratory where he used his computer design knowledge to help create many innovative products. His work for IBM directly contributed to the Universal Product Code scanner (supermarket scanner), the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Point of Sale Devices (networked cash registers) and some preliminary computer systems design work for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In his spare time at home, he and some friends also designed a prototype of an automated fuel pump (self service gas stations).
David left the Los Gatos lab and joined IBM's computer sales team in Los Angeles where he used his computer systems skills to design computing solutions for major regional banks. His customer banks were so impressed with his work that they sponsored David to attend the University of Washington's Graduate School of Business and Banking where he earned a Master's Degree.
David was ultimately hired away from IBM by his customer bank, United California Bank, where he continued to design computer systems and various computing solutions for business. With mergers and consolidation in the banking industry, David's employment moved from United California Bank to First Interstate Bank to Security Pacific Bank and finally to Bank of America from which he retired.
David also served as a volunteer to the State of California's Earthquake Preparedness Committee where he consulted on returning the business community to service after a major disaster. And he served as a business volunteer/consultant to Junior Achievement, a program to teach financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills to young people. He also donated his time and energy to Democratic candidates in the Santa Clara county region during the 1960's.
He was an avid student of history, particularly military history and the British Empire. An avid hobbyist, he was most happy working in his garage on various "Do it Yourself" projects. David was also a fan of Thoroughbred Horse Racing who would delight in betting on four horses in a five horse race, wagering "Across the Board" and "Exacta Box" on favorites and choosing "First Time Lasix" horses.
He met and married his wife, Sonia (Sonny) Laveter in 1955. Sonny Harris preceded David in death in 2006. David and Sonny's family quickly grew to include son Scott Harris of Rancho Park, CA, daughter Susan Harris of London, UK and Victoria (Tori) Gleiberman of Los Feliz, CA. David and Sonny were proud grandparents to Andrew, Stephanie, Jake, Max and Sydney and step-grandparents to Marnie and Hayden Burgoyne. He also leaves behind his long time companion, Marge Thomson of Westwood Village, CA.
He will be greatly missed by family and friends and he leaves behind many memories that will live with us forever.
Other Memories of David
From Brother Michael, "He was a great elder brother and those of you who are not in the right birth order to have an older brother you have been truly deprived."
January 4, 2011