Michael D'Elia

Michael Tirrell D'Elia, 86
Michael passed away on July 5, 2024, after a brief illness. He was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1937 and moved to Harwich Port in 1938 when his father, Dr. Arthur J. D'Elia set up a private medical practice that lasted almost forty years. His mother was artist Helen Tirrell. He was predeceased by his brother, Arthur, and survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Susan, daughters Jennifer Collier (Jeff) and Christine Moss (Willett), grandsons Oscar and Theo Moss, twin sister Ellen D'Elia, brother Joseph D'Elia and sisters Maria Goudiss and Francesca D'Elia as well as numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.
Michael was an outstanding scholar-athlete at Harwich High School, captaining the basketball team which won the Small School League championship in a playoff game against arch rival Chatham and then the baseball team as well. He also played five seasons in the Cape League for Harwich. He received several all-Cape awards in both sports.
Academically, among his awards were membership in the National Honor Society, the Harvard prize book, medals as the outstanding foreign language and mathematics student, the Babe Ruth Sportsmanship medal and three local and Cape scholarships.
Michael received his A.B. from Dartmouth College where he was a member and officer of Beta Theta Pi. He was an exceptional student in both foreign languages and mathematics. Upon graduation he worked for AT&T for three years where he attended IBM school, was among the first to program the IBM 1401 and was promoted to Manager. He returned to Dartmouth to receive an M.B.A. and meet Sue on a blind date at Skidmore College.
He then began a teaching career in French at both the Dennis and Yarmouth junior high schools before entering a doctoral program at Cornell University, where he received a Ph.D. in applied statistics (his mentor, John Caplice, told him advanced degrees look good in obituaries). While there he taught at and later ran the Cornell Reading and Study Skills Center, mentored by Dr. Walter Pauk, and later managed a Carnegie Commission grant to study "Leadership in Education", focusing on college and university presidents and public school superintendents. The committee included the U.S. and New York Commissioners of Education and the presidents of Cornell, RCA and Xerox, and resulted in the publication of the findings in three volumes.
Michael next accepted a position as Professor of Statistics and Research Design at the University of Maine in Orono where the team taught with Metropolitan test author George Prescott and also taught courses in standardized testing and administration. He also served on doctoral committees as chief statistician.
He then became a tenured Professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell for ten years, teaching both undergraduate and graduate students. He was a consultant to the Andover Public Schools and testified for months in favor of the Chelmsford Teachers Association which won their lawsuit.
During this time he developed what became a long-term relationship with Texas Instruments, resulting in 28 statistical programs on the TI-59 programmable calculator (precursor to the PC), marketed internationally by Texas Instruments. In 1979 this led to the establishment of his own company, Money, Time and Data Management, Inc., funded by partners of Alex Brown in Boston. MTD developed primarily bank software, with several hundred banks as customers, moving on to MS-DOS and Windows applications on the PC. Michael also served as a consultant to about ten software companies, including Wang, Olivetti, EDS, ISC and Warren Gorham and LaMont. His best known program, "AnswerBank" was translated into Spanish and marketed in both Mexico and the United States.
Despite any other achievements, he was proudest of the three women in his life, his wife and two daughters, each of whom became outstanding citizens and professionals. He gave all the credit to Susan for Jennifer and Christine's successes in life, marriage and parenting.
Among his interests were chess, reading, travel, opera, Italian cuisine, the beach and sports. He and his wife delighted especially in their many trips to Italy, where Michael's father was born.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Jimmy Fund in remembrance of his lifetime hero, Ted Williams.
Visiting hours will be on Friday July 12, 2024, from 2:00PM to 4:00PM at Downing Cottage Funeral Chapel, 21 Pond Street, Hingham, MA.
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