CS&E mourns the loss of long-time supporter John W. Champine

John W. Champine, an early member of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering's Advisory Board, passed away on July 2, 2021. He was 75 years old.

Champine was an avid supporter of CS&E, and offered his knowledge and expertise from industry to the department's Advisory Board. He had a long tenure on the advisory board, and also served as the chair for a time.

Per his obituary, Champine started his long career in the then-nascent computer industry at Sperry Univac, rising quickly from programming data cards, to being a teacher in computer education and ended as a manager in the software development division. Sperry offered him far-flung fun opportunities working in El Paso, TX (White Sands Missile Range), South Africa, and London, until settling back in Minnesota. He also was extremely proud of his later supercomputer work with Cray Research, and roles with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs, Datacard, Vital Images, and Thomas Reuters.