Michael J. Reilly

REILLY

p,.5

MICHAEL J. REILLY

IBM Manager and Brown University Alumn

Michael Joseph Reilly, 73, died peacefully at his home in McLean, VA on Tuesday, November 14, 2006, surrounded by his family. He died of congestive heart failure.

Mr. Reilly was born on August 12, 1933 in the Bronx, NY, the son of Michael and Winifred Reilly. While an infant, his family moved to Nepera Park, Yonkers, NY, where he spent his childhood and teenage years.

He graduated from Gorton High School in Yonkers where he played varsity football and was selected to the All-Westchester County (NY) all-star team. He was also the New York state discus champion, a record which was later broken by his younger brother, James.

Upon graduation from Gorton High School, he attended Brown University where he played varsity football as a center, linebacker and place-kicker. He was selected to the All New England all-star team and the All Scholastic team in 1954. At Brown, he majored in mathematics and graduated in 1955 cum laude and was selected to the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society. As part of Brown's 125th Football anniversary in 2003, he was selected to the all decade team of the 1950's as a linebacker.

Upon graduation from Brown, on July 5, 1955, he joined the IBM Corporation where he worked for 35 years until his retirement in 1990. After a year of training in New York, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served for 26 months. After basic training at Fort Dix, NJ, he was assigned to the Army Security Agency at Arlington Hall Station, Arlington, VA. While there, he met and married a young teacher from the Madeira School, Nancy Spicer. They were married at Fort Myer Chapel on February 1, 1958. When he finished his Army duty in May, 1958, he and his wife Nancy stayed on in the Washington area, residing in McLean, VA for over 48 years.

He rejoined IBM in the Georgetown office, and was assigned as an IBM representative to the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, MD. In the years that followed at various times he was the IBM manager assigned to the NSA, CIA, DIA and the Naval Security Station. For most of those years his IBM location was Bethesda, MD.

During his IBM career of 35 years, he traveled extensively to France, England, China, Thailand, Iceland and other locations. He attended many IBM Golden Circles and Hundred Percent clubs. In 1962, he was one of 14 IBMers throughout the company chosen to attend the Courant Institute of Mathematics where he obtained a Master's degree in Mathematics in 1963. Expert with computers - in 1981 he was dubbed by fellow employees as the "PC Guru" at of his office as he quickly mastered the personal computer and became teacher to many friends as the PC grew in popularity.

After retirement, he continued to be a member of the Army Security Agency retiree group. He faithfully attended their biennial picnic. He was also a member of the "Rusty Blues", the IBM retiree group that met monthly in Bethesda.

He was an outstanding athlete throughout his life. As a 30 year member of River Bend Golf and Country Club in Great Falls, VA, he played tennis and golf and was a proud member of the River Bend Men's Golf Association.

Throughout his life he was devoted to Brown University and attended almost all of his class reunions including his 50th in May 2005. He and his wife, Nancy, were members of St. Luke Catholic Church in McLean, VA for 45 years since it was founded in 1961.

An avid photographer, his camera was always with him in his last months and absolutely no one could refuse him when he insisted on taking their photo.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Nancy Spicer Reilly of McLean, VA; four children, Ann S. Reilly of North Salem, NY, Michael C. Reilly of Leesburg, VA, Timothy J. Reilly (Mary) of Raleigh, NC and Thomas H. Reilly (Klara) of McLean, VA; 12 grandchildren, Meaghan, Anne, Abigail, Deborah Jean, Maura, Nancy, Michael, Margaret, Kathrynn, Conor, Brian and Erin. Also, his sister, Patricia Reilly Calabrese of Brentwood, NY; his brothers, John F. Reilly of Summit, NJ and Thomas Reilly of Mount Pleasant, SC. A brother, James C. Reilly, preceded him in death in 1994.

The Reillys also had residences in Georgetown, Delaware and Fenwick Island, Delaware.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held at St. Luke Catholic Church in McLean on November 18 and graveside services were held at Union Cemetery in Georgetown, Delaware on November 19.