Obituary of Robert Clayton Gathers

Robert Clayton (Bob) Gathers passed away peacefully at Porter Hospice in Denver, Colorado on July 7, 2020.  He was 90 years old.  He is survived by his wife of 18 years, Martha (Marty) Chance Gathers, his siblings Sarah Stone, Chuck Gathers and Paul Gathers and his three daughters Susie Law (Don Law), Ellie Mohler (Jim Mohler) and Sharon Gould (Ben Gould) as well as 9 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

 

Bob was born March 9, 1930 in Manhattan, Kansas and spent most of his younger years in Boulder, Colorado where he met his first wife, Edith (Ede) Dobbins at Boulder High School.  He attended the University of Colorado as a member of ATO (Alpha Tao Omega) to earn a combined Civil Engineering and Business degree.  His senior year at CU he married Ede and they were married for 50 years until she passed away in 2000 from cancer.  Bob’s first job out of college was working for John Vincent Atanasoff, the inventor of the computer.

 

Bob Gathers was a legend in his time in the data processing field with Gathers and Associates and later Gathers Software with offices all over the country.  He was the first to write a COBOL program generator where programmers just had to fill in the blanks to write the programs.  Most of their work was in accounting, especially for oil and gas companies with their unique accounting needs.  Later, Bob worked  on a project called HECTOR (Human Emulation Computer to Originate Reasoning) with the goal of teaching a computer to think.  He was smart and fun and loved by all who knew him.  We will miss him terribly.  A small family memorial service will be held sometime in September.  Memorial gifts may be made to the Cancer League of Colorado and the Colorado Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.