James William Meadlock

James W. Meadlock, born in Taylorsville, NC, passed Sunday after a brief illness at 92 years old. From remarkably humble beginnings, he possessed an unwavering determination to succeed and was annually ranked first in his class. His academic achievements culminated in the honor of being named Valedictorian. His thirst for knowledge, even as a young man, led him to pursue reading every book in the school library.

At North Carolina State, he left an impressive athletic legacy with his standout dual sport career. In football, he led the nation in yards per carry and in baseball he tied the record of maximum strikeouts recorded by a single pitcher in a single game of 23. In 1956 he graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree.

Pursued by IBM, Jim was tasked with the incredible responsibility, at age 26, for developing the software and managing the Titan II nuclear missile project where he guided the missiles to precise and very narrow targets, never missing.

IBM then entrusted Jim to run the Apollo/Saturn 5 project. Jim wrote and managed the software that resided on the IBM computer in the launch module. This software lifted the module off the launch pad, put it into earth orbit, executed the burn that pointed and accelerated the spacecraft toward the Moon. Once the final burn was completed, the IBM computer was finished, and the spacecraft was turned over to NASA. After circling the moon on the Apollo 8 mission, where the astronauts read from the Bible on Christmas Eve1968, Jim retired from IBM: however, his software was attributed to 27 astronauts orbiting and 12 walking on the moon.

In 1969 with 38K, Jim founded M&S Computing which later became Intergraph Corporation in Huntsville, AL. Intergraph, the legendary pioneer of CAD (computer aided design) became the Global leader in Mapping, Graphics, Cad Design for Engineering of highways, refineries, plants and land management. Government Consulting Contract was a key part of Intergraph’s core business. Intergraph became a worldwide billion-dollar company by the late 80’s. Jim also had the determination to file suit against Intel in 1997 that eventually settled, by which Intel and others agreed to compensate Intergraph a sum that resulted in the largest patent infringement resolution of its time.

Not discounting the many companies that Jim started after stepping down as CEO and Chairman of Intergraph, he was particularly passionate about two properties that he owned: Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach and Cain Vineyard and Winery in Napa Valley. Jim is survived by his wife Cindy, his three sons, Wesley, Michael and James, and his sister Ann. His extreme humility, character and quick wit will be forever missed.