Raymond Anthony Gibley, 82, of Fort Collins passed away peacefully at Lemay Avenue Health and Rehab on Thursday, April 18, 2019, after a brief illness. A celebration of his life will be held on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Resthaven Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens Cemetery at 8426 South Highway 287 in Fort Collins. A rosary will be held at 10:00. Funeral services and interment will be held at 10:30 with a luncheon reception to follow.
Ray was born November 3, 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Marion McMichael Gibley and Charles William Gibley, Sr. Raymond was a sibling to his brothers, Charles and Donald, and his sister, Nancy. He graduated from Ridley Park High School in 1954 and has remained lifelong friends with Albert “Drew” Griffith and Bob Reph, as well as John Wanzer Drane who he met later in life.
Ray completed his BS in Electrical Engineering from Widener University graduating fifth in his class. Ray completed his MBA in Management, Applied Statistics and Operations Research from the University of Denver graduating with honors. Ray completed course work for a DBA in Management Science, Applied Probability and Statistics from the University of Colorado with a cumulative GPA of 3.7 on a 4.0 scale. Additionally, he completed postgraduate courses at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Texas at Arlington, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ray was selected for enlistment in the Ready Reserve under the Critical Skills Program in 1959 and completed three months of active duty at the US Army Training Center in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Ray was acknowledged during his training as a rifle sharpshooter. After his training, Ray completed his remaining reserve obligation for 7 years and 8 months.
Ray was employed at General Electric as an Electrical Engineer from 1958-1964 and employed at Southern California Edison Company as a Transmission Design Engineer from 1964-1965. Ray was then employed at the University of Denver as a Graduate Research Assistant from 1965-1966, as the Director of Computing Laboratory and Insurance Research Program and as an Instructor in Quantitative Methods from 1966-1969, and as an Assistant Professor of Statistics and Operations Research (Tenured) from 1969-1980. Ray then worked at Stearns-Roger Engineering Corporation as an Engineering Technical Advisor and Senior Consultant in Management Science from 1980-1981, as the Manager of Engineering Software Development from 1981-1982, and as the Manager of Strategic Planning and Data Resource Management from 1983-1985. Ray then became the Owner and Managing Partner of his own accounting, tax and business consulting firm through General Business Services from 1985-2012. Ray was also employed during this time as an Insurance Agent for New York Life, as a Financial Advisor for Waddell & Reed, as a Sales Associate for ADT, and as an Instructor for several community colleges in Colorado. During his employment history, Ray belonged to many associations, was given numerous honors and awards, served on several boards, and had his work published. He and his son, Christopher co-authored a book entitled SAS System for Business Analysis, which was submitted to SAS Institute, Inc. for publication.
Ray was married to Marian Roman on September 27, 1958. The couple lived in a number of states from 1958-1965 before permanently settling in Colorado in 1965. The couple’s son, Christopher Paul was born in 1966 and their daughter, Colleen Marie was born in 1970 on Ray’s birthday. The couple later divorced. Ray was then married to Janet Stanish in November 1981 and later they divorced in 1998. Ray shared in the joy of his son, Christopher marrying Michelle Sundu in 1990, the birth of his grandsons, Evan Christopher in 2001 and Jacob Alexander in 2004, and the marriage of his daughter, Colleen to David Reed in 2005.
Ray is preceded in death by his father, Charles Gibley, Sr.; his mother, Marion Gibley; maternal aunt, Jane McMichael (Sister Saint Raymond); as well as his brothers, Donald Gibley, Charles Gibley, Jr. and his sister-in-law, Jeanne Gibley. He is survived by his first wife Marian Lefkowicz, second wife Janet Gibley, son Christopher Gibley, daughter-in-law Michelle Gibley, grandson Evan Gibley, grandson Jacob Gibley, daughter Colleen Gibley-Reed, son-in-law David Reed, his granddogs Lucas Reed, Austin Reed, Lumen Reed, Lyric Reed, and Daphne Gibley, sister Nancy Carlson, brother-in-law Grant Carlson, sister-in-law, Mary Jane Gibley, and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.
In addition to his many accomplishments, Ray will be remembered for his great sense of humor, sports stats and trivia knowledge, his love of travel and music, and his passion for football, basketball, baseball, and golf.
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (https://www.alz.org/).
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