Rainer John Westphal

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary..."

If you knew Ray Westphal, then you knew that at any moment he could, and often would, recite in its entirety, Edgar Allen Poe's famous, and painfully long, "The Raven."

The poem, like Ray's life, is known for meticulous logic, complex rhythm, and melodic cadence.

Ray was born in 1935 in Pelham New York, to immigrants, Gertrude, and Franz Westphal. They fell in love in Germany, sailed separately to the United States, married, and had two children, Ralph, and Ray. Ray's Father was a skilled upholsterer who owned a small shop in Pelham. During a post high school year at Iona Prep, Ray heard about a school in Philadelphia where a work study program could help him afford college. Ray applied, hopeful for better opportunities.

One came "Tapping at his Chamber door" when he was accepted at Drexel University.

At Drexel, Ray thrived. He had a passion for learning, especially in the exciting new field of computer science. He enjoyed campus life, his fraternity TKE, friends, athletics, and his service in the United States National Guard. A blind date, with a beautiful and feisty Italian coed, blossomed into a scandalous romance for its time. Love prevailed, Germany and Italy were unified, in at least one wild way, and he and Antoinette Lucia Passo were wed in May of 1960.

Ray's education in Computer Science led to a job at Educational Testing Services in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was part of the team that designed the scoring system for the SAT. Don't blame him! His children Jeff, Stefanie, and Amanda came along, and the young family lived and played in Belle Mead, New Jersey. From there he worked in consulting for Peat, Marwick, and Mitchell and moved the family to Strafford, PA.

In 1969, he was abruptly laid off. Perhaps he thought, "Is this it, and nothing more?"

Ray often said that standing, sullen, in the unemployment line was the single most defining moment of his life. He found a job at Sorbus Corporation in King of Prussia, where he helped develop a lease accounting system that included a corporate tax rate table feature. The unit was struggling, and with another lay off looming, he and Antoinette risked everything on a bet that the tax rate table was a niche opportunity to meet an unmet corporate need. In 1978, they started Vertex Inc, with one employee, a second mortgage, and a whole lot of determination. Finally, as his own boss, Ray pledged never to face another lay off again.

"Presently their souls grew stronger, hesitating then no longer."

Ray led Vertex for twenty years; creating one of the first true outsourcing companies in the United States. Vertex delivers corporate tax research, software, tools, and consulting services that enable companies to calculate, comply, and remit their tax obligations with confidence. Today, Vertex (VERX) is the leading public corporate tax compliance technology company in the world, employing thousands, and serving countless, for the betterment of global commerce. His values of very hard work, coupled with a whole lot of fun, are bedrock corporate values to this day, and tales of his genius, guile, and extreme generosity were legend.

In 1995, a most unwanted "visitor came entreating entrance at the chamber door."

Antoinette was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ray's retirement focused on her, travel, the shore with family, great golf, fascinations with science, service at Drexel, the study of, and contributions to reduce recidivism, and an ongoing quest for new ideas and curiosities.

Antoinette succumbed to breast cancer in 2004. "That is it. And nothing more."

But there was more. In 2005, Ray met the second love of his life, Cindy Craft. They married in 2008 and enjoyed many years of happiness together. He adored their cabin (Ray's Roost) in Utah, home in Naples, Florida, traveling, hiking, and golf adventures. He also became engrossed in a new business idea, with an obsession, that was at times, perplexing.

"So gently you came rapping, and so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door. That I scarce was sure I heard you. Here I opened wide the door. Darkness there and nothing more."

Ray's journey with dementia was gradual, but sad and steady, and it stole his light away bit by insidious bit. In recent years, he took great joy in the simple pleasures of basking in the warm sun, exchanging barbs with his treasured lifelong assistant Jill Nestor, too many fine cigars, Dairy Queen ice cream cones, and the gentle sway of his beloved little leaf linden tree standing majestically in his backyard.

He was a man of incredible range who read ferociously but would drop that same book in a heartbeat for a game of pick-up basketball. He loved deeply, but also critiqued fiercely. He appreciated the Philadelphia Orchestra as well as the Oak Ridge Boys. He led harshly at times, but was beyond generous in spirit and action. He received many awards but never sought nor coveted them. And like any true Philadelphian, he adored his hometown teams, or called them all bums, often within the same five minutes.

Ray is survived by his loving wife Cindy, his son Jeff, and wife Jenifer Westphal, daughter Stefanie (Westphal) and husband, Christopher Thompson, daughter Amanda (Westphal), and husband Conrad Radcliffe, as well as 11 Grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Friends and family will gather in celebration of Ray's life Friday, August 11, at 10am for visitation, at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 225 Belmont Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, and 11am service. Private interment to follow. In lieu of Flowers, please consider a donation in Ray's honor to the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University. Yes, he did that too. For her.

"Till I scarcely more than muttered, other friends have flown before. On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."

"Quoth the Raven. Nevermore."