Roger Eldred Hough

Roger came from an academic family -- both grandmothers in the first classes of women who were allowed to get university degrees and his mother had a dual major in Music and Physics. His father Eldred Hough had a Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech and could command tenure wherever he went – a university professor and dean whose career moves meant that Roger grew up all over – in Austin; Starkville, MS; Carbondale, IL; and Orono, ME.

As a teen, Roger played the cello and the guitar, had a paper route and spent summers as a lifeguard. He enjoyed putting electronics together, including a memorable set of speakers and amp housed in cardboard boxes. In high school in Carbondale, he learned programming in a special math education project. This was in 1968 in the very early days of computers. He immediately took to this new medium.

Roger received BS and MS degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Maine with honors and was approached by IBM. He worked almost 20 years in Research and Development at IBM, first in Poughkeepsie, NY at "the birthplace of the mainframe computer", and then Austin, TX. In his career, he was an early pioneer in research for mainframe and personal computers, contributing to dozens of patents and his official job title when he retired was 'Inventor'. What he worked on is still used today every day by the computers we all depend on.

He was an avid reader of Science Fiction and Fantasy -- from Anne McCaffrey to Isaac Asimov -- and a dedicated fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars as well as Doctor Who ('his' Doctor was Tom Baker, the fourth doctor). He balanced his cerebral hobbies with painting lessons, horseback riding and Aikido. In retirement, he enjoyed exploring Austin's developing foodie scene and playing skip-bo and Mexican train dominoes.

He married and later divorced, and had a daughter who also studied Mathematics and went into IT.

Roger fell ill in his forties and retired early. He struggled with illness for many years, cared for by his sister Christine. He is survived by his daughter and by his siblings: Christine H. Smith of Albuquerque, NM; Phyllis H. Wheeler of Webster Groves, MO; and Carl E. Hough of Orange County, CA. Memorial gifts may be made in his name to the Austin Mental Health Community(*).

(*) You can make out checks to Austin MHC ; Mail to Austin MHC, attn Shannon Carr, 3205 S. 1st St., Austin, TX 78704