Gilbert F. Curtis ’59

Gil died Oct. 15, 2011, in Cambridge, Mass., after a determined, three-year battle with cancer.

Born in Providence, R.I., Gil attended Pawtucket East High School. At Princeton he majored in English, served on the Undergraduate Schools Committee, drilled with Navy ROTC, edited for The Daily Princetonian, and took his meals at Tower Club. Following graduation he served on a Navy destroyer for two years.

An “intriguing” job offer in Boston led to a career in computer-software development (“Learned to program on the Univac II with all of 2K of memory”). He pioneered some of the earliest software packages for IBM mainframes, started his own company (Programart Corp.) with two people, and retired in 1995 when it had grown to over 200 employees.

Gil remarried in 1995, to Sonia Turek, wine columnist and deputy managing editor for arts and features at the Boston Herald. He soon persuaded her to leave her job and the two enjoyed retired life together for more than 16 years, sailing the Maine coast, relaxing at their vacation home on Penobscot Bay, traveling, biking, and bareboat sailing with family in the Caribbean.

Gil is survived by Sonia; his daughters, Laura ’82 and Wendy; and two grandchildren. We have sent condolences.