Ira Gold

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Sol Gold and Lillian Olsman Gold. His father was an importer of electronics and photographic equipment, and his mother was a homemaker who was deeply devoted to her children. His younger sister is Merle Welch,a speech pathologist and special needs advocate.

Ira had an early interest in mathematics and computer science, and excelled at studying mathematics in the mid-60s when he attended Francis W. Parker School.

After his high school graduation, he went to Knox College, a distinguished liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, where he focused on computers. As part of his studies, he gave informal classes in computer science to other students. One of them, Robin Linda Petrie, was a fellow student whom he was dating. They married on June 17th, 1969, after Ira graduated from Knox with a bachelor of arts.

They moved to Maryland, where Ira worked at the University of Maryland. He worked there for his entire career, first as a teaching assistant while studying for a master's degree. Then, after a while, he decided that "playing with computers is more fun than studying about them," and went in a direction that allowed him to be more involved in the work he loved. He held the title of Senior Systems Analyst when he retired after a reorganization.

One of his early responsibilities was establishing and running the "First-Aid Station," staffed by an assortment of talented and well-informed undergraduates who had the job of assisting and guiding students through the intricacies of computers. IGOD (as they called him) was the man who brought them together and mentored them with a helpfulness that is still remembered decades later. Many people have mentioned acts of kindness, confidence-building, and problem-averting that showed how he went out of his way to do the right thing for the people he worked with.

He was named Computer Science Center Employee of the Year in 1990.

In the mid to late 90s, Ira worked with Dick Atlee on the "K-12 project," a University initiative in which educators in Maryland elementary and high schools were given free computer accounts through the University in order to help them with research, communicating with colleagues, and learning about computers and how to integrate them into educational work. Yes, there was a time when having a personal computer at your home was still an exotic concept, and Ira and Dick helped people get over that hurdle in order to fully join the computer age (with help from people like Temple Blackwood of the Association of Independent Maryland Schools).

Ira and Dick were given the Presidential Award For Service To The Schools in 1997

for their work.

During the later years of his career, Ira became a very early teleworker while handling his duties managing the Listserv list for his department. Clients would very regularly send letters to his bosses praising the speed and effectiveness of his work, and expressing astonishment that he got their requests finished before they even expected him to have started.

During the years he worked at the University, departments and divisions changed and diverged and evolved but Ira was always there, interacting with a very large number of people who valued him as a colleague and friend. Those who knew him have praised him as being on the "permanent honor role of great contributors to campus" and also for "his fantastic ability to juggle tremendous amounts of administrative crap" in the process.

After his retirement, Ira and Robin settled down to an even quieter life, enjoying playing with their own computer and devoting themselves to video and music.

He had a good time teaching Robin about computers over the years, and was never unwilling to help and answer questions. Problem-solving and organization were two of his greatest strengths, as were kindness, honest appreciation, being smart and stubborn and a little bit weird. He loved being with Robin and eating probably too much of her good cooking, and he liked to put on a gruff exterior just to keep people on their toes. He loved sports, rock and roll, CW shows,sci-fi movies, cats, and reality competition shows with a good heart.

He is survived by Robin, his sister Merle, Merle's husband David, their children Jonathan and Leah, Leah's husband Steven Pankratz, Leah and Steven's young son Orion; and a host of friends.

Like the fisherman in the fairy story who visited with the sea folk under the water for a day, and then surfaced to find a hundred years had passed, I feel as if no time has passed at all, even though a lifetime has - Robin

A virtual memorial service will be held on Thursday, June 25th at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time at Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Donations to Ira's favorite charities can be sent to the John D. Gannon Scholarship Fund at the Computer Science Department of the University of Maryland at https://giving.umd.edu/giving/fund.php?name=john-d-gannon-scholarship or RIP Medical Debt at www.ripmedicaldebt.org