JAMES FLANAGAN

1925 - 2015

James L. Flanagan 1925 - 2015; prominent Bell Labs scientist in field of speech recognition and Rutgers vice president for research; awarded National Medal of Science at White House, among many other honors here and abroad James L. Flanagan, residing in Warren, N.J., died on Aug. 25, 2015. He was an internationally recognized pioneer and author in digital speech processing. He enjoyed careers in industry and in academia. Jim Flanagan was born Aug. 26, 1925, in Greenwood, Miss. He grew up on a cotton farm lying in sparse country some seven miles east of the delta town of Greenwood. Jim rode the yellow bus to school over unpaved rural roads and he worked his homework by kerosene lamp, until government acts in the mid-1930s brought electrification and telephone communication. Encouraged by dedicated teachers, he was attracted to math and science. He graduated from high school in 1943, and completed his freshman year at Mississippi State University before joining the U.S. Army at age 18. He returned about three years later, picked up his studies with the help of the G.I. Bill, and graduated with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. His MSU department head urged him to continue graduate education at MIT. These opportunities were to set up a lifelong career in communications engineering, acoustics, and signal processing. While at MIT, he studied and was impressed by technical papers from the Bell Telephone Laboratories. Consequently, it was an easy sell by Dr. Edward E. David (later science adviser to the White House) to recruit Jim into his research department at Murray Hill, N.J. Here, to continue his research on efficient transmission of speech, Jim was assigned, along with a newly hired technical assistant, Bernie Watson. Jim therefore enjoyed mimicking the classic phrase of Alexander Graham Bell, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you." Early in his Bell Labs career, he married a childhood schoolmate from Greenwood, Mildred Bell, then teaching at the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C. Jim served for 33 years in research at AT&T Bell Laboratories, retiring as director of Information Principles Research in 1990. His book, "Speech Analysis, Synthesis and Perception" (1965, 1972), underwent five printings, was translated into Russian, and became the foundation for modern speech and audio processing. He later served for 15 years at Rutgers University as a research center director, Board of Governors professor of electrical engineering, and as the university's vice president for research. After he "retired" at age 80, Jim consulted for Avaya Communication Research and taught in the electrical engineering department at Mississippi State University. To the public, he will probably be most remembered for his contributions in speech-compression technologies that paved the way for voice mail, Internet phone calls, MP3 music files, and today's voice interaction with cell phones. Additionally, he will be remembered for his acoustic investigations into the JFK assassination, Apollo 1 tragedy, and the Watergate tapes. Jim's careers were blessed by professional recognition and foreign travel far beyond the most imaginative dreams of a boy from an isolated cotton farm in the Mississippi delta. Among these honors are both national and international events, such as the National Medal of Science, presented at the White House by the president of the United States; the Medal of Honor of the engineering professional society IEEE; the L.M. Ericsson prize in telecommunications, presented in Stockholm by the King of Sweden; the Marconi International Fellowship, presented in Madrid by the Crown Prince of Spain, and election to the National Academy of Engineering and to the National Academy of Sciences. He also received the N.J. Governor's Science Medal, induction into the N.J. Inventors Hall of Fame, and awards of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Paris-Sud, the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and his endeared Mississippi State University. Jim's published archival papers exceed 200 and his issued patents number 50. Jim was an avid football fan and particularly kept up with SEC competition. Jim is survived by his wife of 57 years, Mildred; his brother, Thomas Marion of Greenwood, and by his three sons, Stephen, Jim, and Aubrey; their spouses, Ann Marie and Deborah; and five grandchildren, Aubrey, James, Bryan, Antonia, and Hanks. Arrangements are under the direction of Higgins Home for Funerals, Watchung, N.J. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the H. G. Flanagan Scholarship, Mississippi State University Foundation, Mississippi State in Mississippi.