Vicki L. Hanson

Obituary of Vicki L. Hanson

Vicki L. Hanson, a pioneering computer scientist, global leader in computing accessibility, devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and tireless advocate for inclusion, passed away peacefully on Tuesday night, January 20, 2026.

Vicki's life was shaped early by history, movement, and curiosity. She spent the first four years of her life in London, where her father was stationed after World War II. As a young child, she witnessed Queen Elizabeth II's coronation parade as it passed by her home, an early brush with history that she would recall fondly. Her family later moved to Denver, Colorado, where Vicki grew up with modest means but boundless ambition. She often described herself as "the little girl from Grover's Corners," a phrase that captured both her humility and her deep belief that determination and curiosity could open doors.

Vicki earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado Boulder before moving to the University of Oregon to pursue her doctorate. It was there that she met her future husband, John Richards, beginning a partnership that would span decades and continents. Together, they built a life marked by intellectual curiosity, shared adventure, and a love of travel that took them around the world. With so many places holding meaning, "home" was never just one location, but wherever they were together.

Her professional career was extraordinary in both scope and impact. An internationally renowned scholar in computing accessibility and human-computer interaction, Vicki dedicated her life's work to making technology usable and inclusive for people with disabilities and older adults. She founded IBM Research's Accessibility Research Group, served as Professor and Chair of Inclusive Technologies at the University of Dundee, and later joined the faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology, where she co-founded the Center for Accessibility and Inclusion Research (CAIR).

Vicki's leadership extended far beyond research and teaching. She served as President and later CEO of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world's largest computing society. In that role, she represented the global computing community at the United Nations, advised leaders in government and industry, and helped shape the direction of hundreds of conferences, publications, and research agendas worldwide. Her influence touched countless careers and helped establish accessibility as a core pillar of modern computing.

Her contributions were recognized with many of the highest honors in her field, including being named an ACM Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Fellow of the British Computer Society. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and to the CHI Academy, and received numerous awards for social impact and leadership, including the Anita Borg Institute Woman of Vision Award and the ACM SIGACCESS Outstanding Contributions Award.

Yet for all her professional achievements, Vicki was deeply grounded in the personal joys of life. She was a devoted mother to her two daughters, Bran Knowles and Kaelin Allmendinger, and a proud grandmother to Alfred and Harvey, the sons of Bran and her husband, David Knowles.

Kaelin is married to Phillip Allmendinger. Vicki was preceded in death by her parents, Robert J. Hanson and Lois J. Dickson.

She loved dogs, especially her Shetland Sheepdogs, Bellatrix and Shadowfax, who were cherished members of the family. Alongside Kaelin, Vicki spent many Saturdays training their dogs as therapy animals and visiting a local nursing home, bringing comfort, joy, and much-needed cuddles to residents. These quiet acts of kindness reflected the same compassion and inclusivity that defined her professional work.

Vicki's legacy is visible in many places: in the careers she shaped, the technologies she helped make accessible, and the people she inspired to believe they belonged in computing. Her image appears among other remarkable women - including Harriet Tubman - on the Women of Rochester Dress, displayed at the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York. She is also featured as the Ace of Clubs in the Notable Women in Computing deck of cards published by the Anita Borg Institute.

Vicki L. Hanson leaves behind a world more accessible than she found it, and a family immeasurably proud of the life she lived.