James Herbert Pomerene

POMERENE--James Herbert, 88, of Chappaqua, a Computer Pioneer passed away on December 7, 2008. He was born in Yonkers, New York on June 22, 1920 to Joel Pomerene and Elsie Bower. A graduate of Northwestern University with a BS in Electrical Engineering, Pomerene worked with John von Neuman at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ on the IAS machine, a prototype stored-program computer. Pomerene was Chief Engineer of the project from 1951 to 1956. He then joined IBM and began development of the Harvest machine, an early supercomputer for the government. In 1965, he headed a team that created a highly available memory system later known as Cache memory. Pomerene was named an IBM Fellow in 1976. He was a Life Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the Computer Society. Pomerene received the Computer Pioneer award in 1986, the prestigious Edison Medal in 1993 and the Eckert-Mauchly award in 2007. He was selected for the National Academy of Engineering in 1988 and was a mamber of Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi. A prolific inventor and holder of 37 patents related to computer architecture Pomerene retired from IBM in 1993. James is predeceased by his wife, Edythe (Schwenn) Pomerene, who passed away on January 22. 2008. They were married for 63 years. He is survived by his three children: James, Katherine and Andrew and his six grandchildren: Laura, Kathryn, Heather, Andrew, Austen and Paige and his two greatgrandchildren: Ayden and Logan. The family will receive friends at the Beecher Funeral Home in Pleasantville on Wednesday from 5-8pm. A funeral service will be held at the Union Church of Pocantico Hills on Thursday at 10am. Interment to follow at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla.