Individual Biography Board

 

PHILCO-FORD EXECUTIVES/TEAM MEMBERS

ARTHUR CHARLES CORONITI (2020 Eulogy)

Arthur Charles Coroniti September 26, 1924 - December 22, 2020 On December 22, 2020, Arthur Charles Coroniti, age 96, died from COVID-19 complications. Arthur was a long-time resident of Lansdale, PA, formerly of Philadelphia in the Harrowgate neighborhood. Arthur was born on September 26, 1924, in Marion Heights, North Cumberland County, PA. He was the son of Ferdinand Coroniti and Rose Rainal.
Arthur grew up in Marion Heights, which he later called Shangri-La, and attended school there. His older sisters said he was a "terror" when he was young and always in trouble.
At the age of 19 in 1943 he enlisted in the U. S. Army and was a Searchlight Operator.
He served in Central Europe, and participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day plus one.
Arthur never spoke of his service during World War II except to say it was a lot of "boomboom."
Arthur received the Good Conduct Medal and the American Theater Service Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.
Arthur was discharged in June 1946, and his mustering out pay was the grand total of $3.00.
Arthur returned to civilian life in Philadelphia. Arthur was predeceased by his first wife, Rita Menello. He met her one day on the El and followed her home; upon his discharge, they were married in April 1947.
Arthur and Rita were happily married for 48 years. Arthur is survived by their three children: Gemma (John Kelly), Victoria Ciccarelli (Dennis) and Edward (Diana.) He is also survived by five grandsons: Andrew Geigert, William Geigert, Gregory Ciccarelli, Geoffrey Ciccarelli, and David Coroniti. He is also survived by two great-grandsons: Emmett and Miles Geigert. Arthur was a very lucky man and spent his senior years married to Lydia Montes. They met through an ad in the newspaper and spent twenty-three happy years together. Arthur expanded his family by adding four step-children: Vicki Hobson, Joseph Hobson, Valerie Slawter (William), and Michael Hobson (Vanessa). He had eight step-grandchildren and 6 step-great- grandchildren.
Arthur had a very interesting work career. He started out as a television repairman with his own business but that didn't last too long.
He then joined Philco and worked at Philco as it transitioned to Philco-Ford and then just Ford Motor Company. Arthur retired from Ford and then began work with RCA, then General Electric, and finally Lockheed-Martin.
Arthur traveled the world for work spending extended amounts of time in countries around the globe from Lebanon, Israel, Hong Kong and Vietnam to Europe, Australia, the Philippines and other countries too numerous to mention. Once he even flew on the Concord and was impressed when the bell rang as they broke the sound barrier. Regarding the specifics of his work, Arthur played his cards close to the vest, both literally and figuratively.
No story highlights this more than his retelling of one of his trips to Paris. During his hotel downtime, he played cards with none other than General Burkhalter of Hogan's Heroes' television fame - a story that leaked out decades later!
During one of his Alaska work trips a pilot friend took Arthur on a helicopter ride over the Alaskan wilderness. They flew over a huge herd of caribou that began stampeding at the noise of the helicopter. The power and grace of the running caribou became a memorable sight for Arthur.
For many years Arthur was an amateur radio operator or ham radio operator. Everyone who knew Arthur accepted him as a man of few words, so imagine our surprise when he announced his hobby. Family and friends would wonder what he spoke to world-wide strangers about that he didn't mention to those close by. When asked about that, he said they talked about the weather!
Arthur was predeceased by his wife Rita, his son-in-law Edward Geigert, his brothers Samuel, Ferdinand, Ernesto, and Edward, and his sisters Helen, Anita, and Elizabeth. Arthur is survived by his loving wife Lydia and all of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He is also survived by one brother, Evo Coroniti (Cookie), and many nieces and nephews.

Arthur, you were the best Director anybody would want managing a program. You effectively did your job and let us do ours, because of the trust relationship between the team and you. We will always miss you. May you rest in peace. In eternal memory, Tino and the Autodin gang.

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TINO RANDALL

1938, Born in Germany, Lindau, Lake Constance.
1952-1956, Attended Lindau Industrial Academy.
1957, Team member, Wolfsburg Plant to industrialize VW Volkswagen assembly. Built first automated Robotic welding street.
1958, A.G. Colour, Zurich, SW, team member developing first automatic bottling capping process for Coca Cola.
1959, Dornier, GE, design team to build first post-war surveillance aircraft, model DO-128.
1960, Coleman Barracks, flight crew Army airfield, GE, German Civil Service.
1961, Immigrant to the United States. First job with National Engineerings & Manufacturing Co. (NEMCO), Philadelphia, PA. Government contractor, NASA project Mercury, manufactured astronaut space capsules.
1962, same company, project Gemini, manufactured space capsules.
1963-1966, same company, built Explorer 1 through 8 series Spy satellites for U.S. Air Force.
1962 through 1966 attended Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, studied computer science & electronics theories. Trained on Philco Ford model 2000 Mainframe computer.
1966, Graduated. Philco Ford, first job offer, computerize Philadelphia High school system, project GROW.
1966 through 1994, Team member AUTODIN and other programs as follows:
1969-1971, Naval Intel site Superintendent, Guam, Pacific.
1971, Team member, NATO site installation, Gablingen, GE.
1972-1974, Site manager, Taegu, Korea.
1972 through 1975, assigned to Naval Intel Guam in the capacity as Superintendent, to support the First Signal Brigade on call numerous times, at two Intel sites during the Vietnam War years, located in the Mekong Delta down south and near the DMC up north in Nah Trang.
1975, removed both Intel sites out of Vietnam to protect classified AUTODIN systems and materials from falling into enemy hands prior to the U.S. exiting war effort. The country was taken over shortly after by Communist North Vietnam military command and Viet Kong freedom fighters taking possession of the Democratic South.
1972-1977, Intel site Support Mrg. Clark Airbase, Philippines.
1978, Team member, relocate AUTODIN site from Ft. Monmouth, NJ to Fort Gordon, GA.
1978-1980, AUTODIN II Engineering team, Palo Alto, CA.
1980, Corporate relocation to Colorado Springs, CO.
1982, Team member, SDI design, President Reagan's, Star Wars program.
1983, Attended UCCS, taking psychology courses.
1983-1984, Managed AF Intel site installation Yokota, Japan.
1984-1988, Managed Army support contract AUTODIN sites worldwide.
1989, Team member, AI assessment study, Ford Aerospace & Lockheed Martin.
1989-1993, REACT Engineering manager, designed survivable protection into underground missile launch facilities and missile silos against direct nuclear attacks.
1993, Retired from government, turned private contractor in commercial sector.
1994, Team member, implementing 90s computer technology for Immigration & Naturalization Services, (INS), U.S. Coast Guard HQs and Alligator Alley prison system.
1994, Microsoft engineering team for Windows 95 deployement to first customer Levi Strauss design HQ's, San Francisco.
1995-1996, MCI Worldcom, support staff to implement and support nationwide WiFi customers.
1997, Engineering staff to develop pioneering project "Kids On Line America" (KOLA), San Francisco, interactive social program for school children ages Ten to Sixteen.
1998, Engineering staff to develop sanitized production environment to automate Intel microchip manufacturing.
1999, Joined Microsoft NT-2000 Server technology development team for PacBell, California based customers.
2001-2003, Microsoft, solution provider to Fortune-100 companies, Headquartered in San Francisco Market St. district.
2004, Formed private corporation DevTec, Inc to consult, design, develop and implement computer and network security applications.
2007, Joined Discovery Communication, Engineering team to relocate their European Program production office to the U.S. without program interruption. The relocation was nesessary beacause of increased terrorist activities in Europe and U.K.
2008, Retired from business to become published Author of several novels, written from an inside perspective of military and defense Intelligence.

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PETER ROLF POWILLEIT (2020 Eulogy)

DATA SYSTEMS ANALYSTS INC.

Web Site - https://www.dsainc.com/

DSA EXECUTIVES

Fran Pierce 1966 - PRESENT DSA CEO

 

DSA Founding Members

Abe Drier 1966 - 1996 DSA Management

Ed Busch 1966 - 1996 DSA Program Mgr.

Edward (Ned) Evans 1966 - 1995 DSA Mgr.

Joe McFadden 1966 - 2013 DSA Mgr.

John King 1966 - 2013 DSA Management

John Scott 1971 - 2013 DSA Management

Phillip Lee 1966 - 2013 DSA Management

Ray Krug 1966 - 1985 AF/DSA Management

Rich Lorenz 1979 - 2010 GUAM Site Programmer

Steve Cook 1966 - 2013 DSA Management

Tom Wolf 1966 - 1990 DSA Management

Woody Wrigth 1966 - 2013 DSA Mgmt.

Who owns DSA?

DSA is a 100 percent emploee-owned company:
Every employee has a stake in the success of our company.

DCA/DISA EXECUTIVES

TERRY DAMON

Terry Damon began his career as an AF Communications Center Operator in 1965. 
After his discharge, he went to work as an operator at the Hancock (Syracuse) ASC. 
After seven years, he applied for a supervisory position at the Taegu ASC and worked there for two years. 
He went back to Hancock and a year later was hired by DCA to be an AUTODIN controller. 
He was escalated to a staff position in 1981 with his dream position as Chief, AUTODIN Operations division three years later. 
Although the title changed over the years with reorganizations etc., he maintained the AUTODIN management responsibility until retirement in 2004. 
He returned as contractor to DSA until 2013 and assigned the authority to represent DISA regarding Autodin's messaging interfaces with the Five Eyes nations, NATO, and Japan.

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BILL AREY

Bill Arey began his career with DCA as an AF Captain with a strong background in AUTODIN software. 
He would review software patches developed and tested by the Software division and issue the release instructions to both the CONUC and OCONUS ASCs. 
When he was reassigned to Alaska, he served out that tour and resigned from the AF. 
He initially took a job with Western Union and within a year, Terry was able to bring him on board as a GS-13. 
He was placed in charge of replacing the ADUs in the CONUS sites.  DCEC (Defense Communications Engineering Center), eventually hired him away. 
He got his engineering degree while working and the DMS Program Manager hired him as the Lead DMS Engineer.

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BOB (ROBERT) KRANTZ (2013 Eulogy)

Robert L. Krantz Sr., of Unison, Virginia, born April 16, 1921, in New York City, NY, passed away peacefully on January 26, 2013 at the Warren County Hospital in Front Royal, Virginia from a lengthy illness. He was the only child of Frederick L. Krantz and Marietta Reirden Krantz. He spent his childhood living between New York City and Old Greenwich, CT.
He graduated from Greenwich High School with the class of 1939. He later received his BS in Business Administration, from the University of Maryland. He was a member of the General Motors Parade of Progress until WWII began.
At that time, at age 20, he enlisted in the Army Air Core, and served as an Army pilot and instructor.
He married Edna Ann Winters, from Providence, R.I., in Coffeyville, Kansas, while in the second phase of his flight training. At the end of the war he left the military for a short period and then joined the Army in 1948.
During his long Army career his family joined him, in Japan, Korean War, Germany, and several stateside assignments.
He took only one assignment without his family, and that was to France. It was during his long Army career that he began his lifelong work with computers in the early 1960’s.
At that time a computer was the size of a tractor trailer, as he called it.
He never could have imagined that they would shrink to the size of a chip, held in one’s hand.
He helped design the first computer for the Army Signal Corp, as Army Intel was known back then.
Retiring from the Army in 1964, after serving from 1942, he remained in the Army Reserve until retirement.
His next career was with the Department of Defense, Army Strategic Communications Command as a Computer Systems Analyst working with DCA’s AUTODIN system development.
As program liaison to DOD, installed defense communication systems throughout the world during the Cold War.
His vast knowledge in defense communication systems allowed him to be a mentor to thousands of others working in the defense industry.
He, and most of his peers, spent much time overseas in the company of the military, embassy staff, and other more covert arenas.
It was for people like him that the nation today is a safer place to live than it was during the Cold War.
Following his permanent return to Washington, DC, he continued to work with the Overseas AUTODIN system working on the 73 AUTODIN Enhancement Project, developing the A&E Design Criteria for the relocations of the Alaska ASC to Taegu Korea, and Nha Trang, RVN to Augsburg, Germany.
With the draw down in Southeast Asia, he developed plans for the re-homing and removal of the three ASC's in that area, after which he worked with a task force charged with developing the specifications for the Memory/Memory Control Upgrade of 1978, and the 78/79 AUTODIN Upgrade Project.
During the late 70’s, he conducted many consolidation studies and analyzed plans for installation of Army AMME’S in CONUS and Overseas.
The AUTODIN Processor Replacement Project, which advanced the Overseas ASC's to keep them operational until the mid-90’s, was the first large project which was solely under the control of DCA.
Mr. Krantz had been deeply involved in that project from its origin, having participated in the development of the Statement of Work, Request for Procurement, Proposal Evaluation, and the review and critique of contractor deliverables.  He continued to work with this project until retirement at age 73.
While at DCA, Mr. Krantz received eight outstanding performance awards, one Sustained Superior Performance award, three high quality performance awards, and the Director’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award.
He enjoyed his retirement to the fullest living on his farm in Unison, with his wife of 70 years, Edna Krantz, his herd of Registered Black Angus, and keeping his farm equipment operational.
He stayed active and involved with the Loudoun County Library Foundation, The Loudoun County Hospital Sale in charge of electronics), Election Polls, reading, writing his autobiography, and spending many hours each day on his computers keeping informed and in touch with his many friends around the world. He was a member of the Returned Services League of Australia, and a member of the American Angus Association.
He was a man who had a “Joie de vivre” and that to all around him.
He worked, and traveled the world, clocking millions of miles and making lasting friendships. A voracious reader with an inquisitive mind, he enjoyed a glass (or two) of wine and good conversation with family and friends. He was known for his huge smile, and his laugh, and never met a stranger.

Bob, your Invisible Warrior contractors at AUTODIN will miss you until we shall meet again. Rest in peace...Tino Randall

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BOB LEUCK

xxx

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EUGENE (GENO) WEEKS

Gene Weeks began his AUTODIN career with Philco Ford in 1966 as a deployment/installation engineer, after which he applied for and obtained a staff position with the Army where he served as a DCA/DISA Coordinator.

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JOHN KING

John King was staff member with DCA/DISA assigned as AUTODIN Software specialist.

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JOHN SCOTT

John Scott served in the Army at various capacities after which he worked for DSA as software specialist.

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MARTHAT LEWIS

Martha Lewis began her career with DCA/DISA as COR (Contracting Officer Representative) for the DISA contract with DSA.

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ROGER (RUSTY) SCHLAGHECK

Rusty began his career in AUTODIN with Philco Ford after which he applied for and was accepted by DCA/DISA.  His last position was as Deputy Chief with DISA Field Office, assigned at USNORTHCOM, in Colorado Springs.

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