Computer History Museum

Gentry, Richard oral history

Richard Gentry, a consummate programmer, describes his personal background in Texas, his education at Texas A&M and then his service in the US Air Force. He discusses going to work at IBM and teaching punch card equipment and then programming on the 1401 and 1620 computers. He talks about how he came up with the concept of the Gentry Monitor and how it turned into the FASTER Type II Program at IBM. He relates leaving IBM to work for SYSDYN (founded by Bill Millard) and then working as an independent contractor after SYSDYN closed its doors. Richard covers how he and his wife, Grace, founded Gentry Inc. which used independent contractors not employees to perform professional services projects for its clients. He describes some of the major projects in which he was involved over the years including his work at Computer Election Systems and MJB Coffee and Hills Brothers. He closes with his going to work as the Systems Administrator at Gentry Inc, in order to sell the company.

Item Details

Date
2006-05-24 (Made)
Type
Document
Catalogue number
102658070
Organization
Computer History Museum
People
Richard Gentry (Interviewee)
Yan Rosenshteyn (Videographer)
Burt Grad (Editor)
Burt Grad (Interviewer)
Category
Transcript
Extent
49 p.
Place of publication
USA/CA/Mountain View
Language
English
Acquisition number
X3591.2006
Subject
Gentry Incorporated, US Air Force
Archive collection
Oral history collection
Archive hierarchy
CHM Oral History Collection