JEFFREY GETCHIUS

GETCHIUS, Jeffrey On March 8, 2016, Jeffrey M. Getchius died unexpectedly, but peacefully in the home he loved in Newbury, MA. Jeff was an adventurer, world traveler, sailboat captain and lover of the sea. He was a brilliant singer and songwriter, extraordinary chef, chess champion, and forever student, continuing to study advanced robotics, machine learning, philosophy and Spanish until the day he died. He lived in Cambridge, MA until he retired from Verizon and moved permanently to Newbury, where his days were full with woodworking, gardening, tiling, designing and artistically renovating a cottage on the river with his beloved companion, Irene Martyniuk and their cats Pushkin and Achilles. Jeff held the title of Distinguished Engineer at Verizon and was an inventor responsible for innovations in machine learning, IT, and artificial intelligence. He held 18 patents and was awarded 3 Warner Technical Achievement awards during his tenure at GTE/Verizon. Jeff graduated from Wautoma, Wisc. High School, achieved a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an M.S. in Computational Biology from Northeastern University, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He was a member of ETA Kappa NU Electrical Engineering Society and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. Jeff is also survived by his sister, Jeanine Getchius Renzoni, her husband Dante of Medford, Wisc. and their daughter Kendra Renzoni of Leverett, MA, his brother, Guy Getchius and his wife Stacey Getchius of Wadsworth, IL, and their children Gabriella Getchius and Gavin Getchius. He is survived by his mother, Jane Brooks Getchius Chase of Omro, WI, and was predeceased by his father Richard Getchius of Redgranite, WI. Jeff had a passion for the life of the mind and the people he loved. We mourn him and cherish the memory of his great heart. Memorial Services will be private.