William Blake

1949 - 2015

William C. Blake

Lunenburg, Massachusetts - William (Bill) Carroll Blake passed away suddenly of a profound heart attack on March 31, 2015. At that time, he was Executive Vice President of Research & Development at D-Wave Systems Inc., Vancouver, BC, Canada, and was extremely excited to be part of building future supercomputing products based on quantum computing technology.

As a consummate engineer, Bill's ambition was to create computing tools that would make life on this planet better. His career spanned the technologies of high-performance computing, parallel systems, data analytics, compiler development and software, semiconductor technologies, and artificial intelligence. In addition to his recent position at D-Wave Systems, Bill's roles throughout his career included Chief Technology Officer & Senior VP at Cray Inc.; General Manager, Parallel Computing Platforms, Microsoft Corporation; President & CEO Interactive Supercomputing, Inc.; Senior VP Product Development, Netezza Corporation; and Vice President, High-Performance Technical Computing, Compaq Computer Corporation. Bill also held several leadership positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, including Alpha Systems product development and significant successes with smaller teams and customer collaborations early in his career.

In emails, blogs, and cards of condolence, friends and colleagues characterized Bill as "one of the very best human beings it has been my joy and pleasure to know," "a friend and mentor, a noble man with a great heart," as someone who possessed a "wicked sense of humor," as both "kind" and "brilliant" and as a "rare combination of humility and brilliance." Bill had an inquiring mind and was an avid reader who found joy in sharing gained knowledge and experience with others. He highly valued people and personal relationships.

Bill tenderly loved and was loved by his wife, Jane Chapman Blake. Jane, close friends and Jane's brother were with him when he passed away. He and Jane shared a full life that included wonderful friendships and good conversation always. Bill had traveled around the world on business. But wherever he and Jane traveled together, they found an art museum to visit or sought out a classical music event, and discovered an intriguing restaurant; loved skiing with friends at The Balsams and in Switzerland; and spent quiet time at their family cottage on Prince Edward Island. Bill also golfed, as he said, "whenever in need of additional frustration." Bill's joy was sailing his 40' boat, The Godwit, from Boston to Cape Cod. And, of course, both Bill and Jane adored their cats.

Bill was born in Worcester, Mass., graduating from St. John's High School, Shrewsbury, Mass., and earning a BSEE from Lowell Technological Institute. He was a member of the professional engineering organizations IEEE and ACM. He was predeceased by his parents, William P. Blake and Celina Frances (Bonczyk) Blake, and is survived by his sister, Patricia Belliveau and her family, his uncles Edward Bonczyk and his wife Patricia, Frank Bonczyk and his wife Dorothy-Ann Bonczyk of Worcester, his brothers-in-law Dr. Robert Chapman of Boston and William S. Bray of Southampton, nieces and nephews.

Jane wishes to express her deep gratitude to her loving friends for their support, to Bill's D-Wave Systems, Inc., colleagues, the paramedic team at D-Wave, and to the emergency team and doctors from the Royal Columbian Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada, for their heroic efforts to save Bill.

A memorial service will be held on May 30, 2015, Saturday, at 11:00 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 645 Main St., Melrose, Mass., www.fumcmelrose.com. In lieu of flowers, donations in Bill's memory may be made to The Humane Society of the United States, 2100 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037.