Charles E. Spurgeon

1950 - 2024

BORN

1950

DIED

2024

About

Wesleyan University

Charles Spurgeon Obituary

Charles E. Spurgeon died in Georgetown, TX on May 3, 2024, of complications from Covid. Born in Silver Spring, MD in 1950, to Charles and Christine Spurgeon, his father's teaching career caused him to spend his early years in Baltimore and the North Shore of Long Island. He graduated from Fairchance Georges High School in Fairchance, PA, and then attended Wesleyan University as part of the class of 1972, with a major in cultural anthropology, serving as photography editor for the college paper. Family concerns prevented him from graduating, but he remained part of the class for over 50 years.

In 1976, he moved to Austin TX, went to work for the University of Texas, and met Joann Zimmerman, whom he married in 1981. Shortly afterward, they moved to Palo Alto, CA, where Charles worked for Stanford University's various computer networking organizations. In 1988, they returned to Austin; Charles began working for UT's networking services, retiring from full time in 2018 as their chief technical architect, and then rejoining them part time on various special projects. After fourteen years living in Austin's Mueller neighborhood, they moved to Wolf Ranch, in Georgetown, last year.

Much of his spare time over the years was devoted to writing about networking with Ethernet; there were four books, including two editions of "Ethernet: The Definitive Guide," and an online presence that began in the 1980s as an anonymous file server and grew into a widely-referenced website.

He was an excellent baker of bread, croissants and cookies, enthusiastically embraced new technologies, and continued to be a photographer. He was also a generous supporter of his wife's activities, whether musical, academic or literary, and a convivial companion at pre-pandemic local happy hours. In recent years, he provided web support for his college class, resurrecting old photographs. Although he read and reread sea stories and mid-century mysteries, he also read widely in history, anthropology, and philosophy. Over the years, he traveled widely, but his favorite places were the coasts of California and New England, and Venice.

Charles is survived by his wife, Joann Zimmerman.

There will be no services, but donations to Planned Parenthood, Meals On Wheels, People's Community Clinic, Central Texas Food Bank, Shadow Cats, or Texas Early Music Project would be appreciated.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Austin American-Statesman from May 7 to May 12, 2024.

Memories and Condolences
for Charles Spurgeon

2 Entries

Tom Wheeler

July 19, 2024

"Bud" and I arrived at Wesleyan University's Andrus Hall in fall 1968, and instantly connected over similarities in family, Appalachian background, reading tastes, politics, and thinking. We roadtripped some, hung out - a Mutt and Jeff pair (he towered over me...), spent many hours talking of all KINDS of things, and I savored his wry, sometimes biting sense of humor, and his seemingly-boundless gift for storytelling, grounded in keen perceptivity, luminous intelligence, vast empathy, and deep distrust of Powers That Be. Though there were bumps, we survived that first year with a little help from our friends, and the other denizens of our hall. After that year I left for 3 years of needed growing-up and purpose-finding, and Bud was gone by the time I returned. I followed his exploits from afar, and rejoiced in his discovery of amazing talents in networking and computing. I had fallen into a career on the software side of things, which gave us other strands of conversation over the years. Both of us were fortunate in marriage, and I'm deeply glad to read about his domestic gifts and happy times. He is greatly missed, and will be remembered vividly, by many.

CLYDE HOOVER

May 8, 2024

When Charles came to work at the Computation Center, his office was in the WC Hogg building next door to COM. At the time us UNIX folks were also located there. He got the "nice" office with a window overlooking the driveway next to the building (when networking moved to the Service Building, I got that office until we were all kicked out to Taylor Hall).
I also really loved hearing his Standford stories, about the origins of now-giants like Cisco. (Also in the vicinity of the UC Berkeley UNIX scene).
He had a sharp and sometimes biting sense of humor - which, of course, clicked with me right away. Anytime I had a chance to have a chat with him I would eagerly jump on the opportunity .
One memory popped to the surface - a few-ish years ago, they had a party at their house in Mueller. Their living room was decently large and half of it was full of bookcases, just like a library. Both myself and my wife were quite jealous of them having that much space for books. As I recall, they both were well-read (I suppose that would be obvious due to the quantity of books present).
Joanne was a real hoot too - even though her area of expertise did not overlap with any of mine, I enjoyed conversations with her.
I know I've got a few dozen more little tales to tell about Charles, but I'll leave with this - he was a good person and I am honored to had him as a friend.
Clyde Hoover
(Retired Bit Pusher, UT Austin)

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