Alan E. Rogers *68

Alan Rogers, a computer scientist who once headed Mobil Oil’s London Engineering office, died Nov. 20, 2011. He was 81.

Born and educated in England, Rogers graduated from Oxford in 1951. In the British military from 1951 to 1953, he received a master’s degree from Oxford in 1955, and went to Canada that year to work for White-Westinghouse on missile-guidance systems.

In 1957, he moved to Princeton to work for Electronic Associates, a computer-systems maker specializing in simulation. Concomitantly, he earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton in 1959. In 1965, Rogers began teaching computer science as an associate professor at the University of Delaware.

After completing his doctorate at Princeton in 1968 in electrical engineering, he returned to industry with Mobil in 1969. Heading its London engineering office, Rogers managed the instrumentation and control systems of Mobil’s six European refineries.

After holding positions in London and New York, and writing a book, The Story of Mobil Engineering, he retired in 1988. He then did computer consulting work and became active in local politics.

Rogers is survived by Traudi, his wife of nearly 57 years; two sons (including Martin ’78); and two grandsons. A third son, Philip ’79, died in 2005. 

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.