Willis H. Ware *51

Willis Ware, a computer pioneer who predicted universal computer usage and forewarned of current privacy concerns, died Nov. 22, 2013. He was 93.

Ware received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Penn in 1941 and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT in 1942.   He then joined the Hazeltine Corp. and worked on classified radar-detection tools. This led John von Neumann in 1946 to recruit Ware to help him build a computer at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

While working at the Institute, Ware earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton in 1951. In 1952, he went to the Rand Corp. and worked there for more than 55 years. But he probably will be best known for his predictions that computer-data collection will invade the public’s privacy.

Ware foresaw the effects of hackers, business mining of personal information, and NSA’s obtaining private communication. One of the three high-level federal committees he chaired made recommendations adopted in the federal Privacy Act of 1974. Although what he foresaw eventually came true, Ware did not become bitter or despondent, according to his daughter, Alison. “He was problem-oriented — he looked at a problem and took on the challenge of examining it.”

He is survived by three children; two granddaughters; and a great-grandson.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.