Edward John Gauss passed away at age 89 on July 22, 2022 in Longmont, CO after battling multiple myeloma.
He was born in Denver September 16, 1932 to Dr. Harry and Elvia (Verhoeff) Gauss and attended East High School, where he was a member of the Ski Team and President of the International Relations Club. During the summers he collected 14ers with the Colorado Mountain Club. He left Colorado to attend the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), where he earned a BS in Chemistry in 1954. While at CalTech he was President of the Chemical Engineering Club, Foreman of the Student Shop and Athletic Manager for Blacker House and attended classes taught by Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling. He even played football, and was a Quarterback as a freshman in the Rose Bowl, which CalTech rented for their home games. He was on stage with CalTech's Drama Club and began sculpting, casting metal and painting while in California.
While bicycling in Europe, he met Virginia Robbins who would become his (first) wife in 1955 while he was in graduate school at CU Boulder. In 1956 he received his M.S. in Chemistry, and was elected to the scientific honorary society Sigma Xi. They moved to Santa Monica, California where Ed continued his education at UCLA, earning one of their first M.S. degrees in Computing in 1960. Ed claims it was because he took a wrong turn on a Los Angeles freeway that he ended up in Fairbanks, Alaska in September of 1960 where he joined the University of Alaska as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. After a brief time as a Principal Investigator at the Geophysical Institute, he became the Director of the newly formed Computer Center where he taught and authored UAF's first degree program in Computer Science.
He learned to fly little airplanes and used that skill to access the rural schools in Dillingham, Nome and Nulato (Alaska) where he provided computer support in Fairbanks to their math classes, a very early example of remote learning! As Captain in the Civil Air Patrol, he flew more than 100 search and rescue missions and received national recognition for the lives he saved. With his airplane Ed hunted moose and caribou and fished for salmon, providing his family and children George and Alex all of their protein year-round. Ed somehow found time to continue painting and ran a small foundry in his backyard, casting small aluminum sculptures out of recycled beer cans. He was also active in local theatre, as a cast member, constructing sets and serving on the Boards of Fairbanks Light Opera Productions and Alaska Association for the Arts. His second wife, Rebecca Banker, was also active in in the Fairbanks musical theatre scene.
After retiring from the University of Alaska, Ed took another wrong exit off the freeway – and this time it led to a job at AT&T's Bell Labs in Lincroft, New Jersey. While at Bell Labs he applied his computer knowledge to business applications and telephone switching systems, laying some of the groundwork for the digital telephone systems we now use. He was also able to do some tinkering while at Bell Labs, where he invented a computer printer stand which made changing the fan-fold paper easy. He was awarded U.S. Patent # 4,880,202 for the printer stand. Ed continued to be active in local theatre, performing with the Monmouth Theatre and Community Chorus. Upon retiring from Bell Labs, Ed moved back home to Colorado where he has lived since 1991 in Heatherwood and Niwot.
A lifelong hiker and skier, Ed enjoyed being back in Colorado and made many friends with the Boulder Tuesday and Thursday hiking groups and the Boulder Senior Ski Club. When he was not being an at-home dad to Emily and Elizabeth, he continued to paint and sculpt, and exhibited his work at galleries in Estes Park and elsewhere. His Reclining Bear sculpture is outside the Visitor Center at Estes Park, and another Reclining Bear can be found at Festival Plaza in Lafayette where the toddlers from a nearby daycare enjoy giving the bear a hug. Ed enjoyed plein air painting with the Boulder and Estes Park plein air painting groups and stayed active with hiking and skiing into his late 80s.
Scientist, Artist, Family Man. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is simply converted; thus he will always be with us.
Ed was preceded in death by his parents, Dr. Harry and Elvia Gauss, sister, Harriet Gauss Will, and by his son, George Harry Gauss. He is survived by his three daughters Emily Gauss Brunn, Elizabeth Gauss, and Alexandra Gauss Sutton Andrews, and seven grandchildren: Forrest Clayton Gauss and Robin Lindsey Gauss of Bozeman, MT; Edward Jack Andrews and Buren Curtis Andrews of Hudson, MA; Edward Duane Brunn, James Dalton Brunn and Samuel Dean Brunn of Firestone, CO; as well his canine hiking companion of many years, Sparky. No memorial is planned. Memories and condolences may be shared at www.ahlbergfuneralchapel.com.
