Charles W. Bachman

Charles William Bachman was born in Manhattan, Kansas on December 11, 1924. Charlie was the son of the late College Football Hall of Fame Coach Charles William Bachman and his wife Grace Marie Cary Bachman. He served in the U.S. Army with the highest rank of Technical Sergeant in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World War II. After the war, he returned to Michigan State University (then Michigan State College), where he graduated in 1948 with Tau Beta Pi honors and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering. He belonged to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. While at Michigan State he met his wife, Constance Arlene Hadley (Connie). The couple married on June 25, 1949 in Holly, Michigan. He then earned a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. Charlies evolving engineering and computer science career led the family to live in a variety of communities over the years, including: Philadelphia, PA; Midland, MI; Stamford, CT; Paradise Valley, AZ; Tucson, AZ; and Lexington, MA (1970-1996 and 2006-2017). A computer pioneer with a career spanning more than 50 years, Charles W. (Charlie) Bachman was an analyst, a developer, an architect, a standards leader, and entrepreneur in one of the fastest growing and competitive businesses in the world | computer software. He was employed in succession by Dow Chemical, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems, and Cullinet; then in 1983 with his wife, Connie, and son, Jon, he launched, Bachman Information Systems, later Cayenne. In 1973, the Association for Computing Machinery awarded Charlie the A. M. Turing Award for his outstanding contributions to database technology. His other capstone honors include: Distinguished Fellow of the British Computing Society (1977); 2012 National Medal of Technology and Innovation (received 2014); Computer History Museum Fellow (2015); ACM Fellow (2015); and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Michigan State University (2015). Charlies professional papers are archived at the Charles Babbage Institute, Center for the History of Information Technology, University of Minnesota Libraries in Minneapolis. He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Connie (1924-2012). He is survived by his four children, Chandini Margaret Bachman of Washington, DC; Thomas Hadley Bachman and wife Suisan Mei Jian Fann Ho of Phoenix, AZ; Sara Bachman Ducey and husband Richard V. Ducey of Bethesda, MD; Jonathan Americ Bachman and wife Rebecca Driscoll of Lexington, MA. His five grandchildren are: Diana Logan Ducey, of Potomac, MD; Elizabeth Joslin Ducey of Washington, DC; and Grace Helen Bachman of Cambridge, MA, Louisa Cook Bachman and Jonathan Americ Bachman, Junior, both of Lexington, MA. His great-granddaughter is Hadley Brynn Girard of Potomac, MD. Additional survivors include his brother J. Cary Bachman and sister-in-law Helene Petie Bachman of Milwaukee, WI. He was predeceased by his parents, sister, Margaret Cary Bachman, and brother John Logan Bachman. Charlie Bachman died at home in Lexington, Massachusetts, on July 13, 2017. Private interment will take place on a later date in the Hadley family plot in Lakeside Cemetery in Holly, Michigan. A Memorial Service will be held Sunday, July 23, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. in the Auditorium at Brookhaven-at-Lexington, 1010 Waltham Street, Lexington, Massachusetts 02421. Please R.S.V.P. for the Memorial Service to: chandinibachman@gmail.com . In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI). Checks with Charlie Bachman in the memo line can be sent to Charles Babbage Institute, 222 - 21st Avenue South, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, or online directly to CBI through this link: . Douglass Funeral Home, Lexington 781-862-1800, www.douglassfh.com.