To all of our dad's friends and colleagues, we want to thank you for all of your kind words.
They will make his memory live on forever.
If there is anything you would like to add or include, please use the "Say Hello" tab above to reach us.
God Bless you all!

My condolences to those of you who knew and loved Bob and who will miss
him.  I do not know how Bob had hoped to be remembered, but for me, it
will be with a smile.

Sincerely,

Roberta Roth

 

It is truly a very sad day for all who knew Bob.   His passion for his family, his work and for life in general leaves a legacy to be respected and admired.

Larry Trollope

We have lost another of our founders.
R.I.P. Bob, and may all of your family and friends and colleagues
remember you happily and well.
We are never truly gone until the last person who remembers us is also
gone.

Peter Farley

This is truly a sad day for the CICS community.
There was indeed no one on the planet that cared more for CICS and the
customers who use it.
Over the years, Bob has been bestowed the title of "Godfather of CICS" and
also "Father of the CICS Project".
As we celebrate our project's 35th anniversary and the 40th of CICS this
year, Bob will certainly be on our minds and in our hearts.
Rest in peace, Bob.

-Barry Brooks

The world has lost a Prince.
God's blessings and strength to his family.
He'll be missed more than he would ever know.
So sorry,

Bill

I remember the first time I attended one of his presentations in NYC,
some time in the early 80's.  I was sitting at the edge of my sit,
listening to every word he spoke, and I always came away from one of his
talks being impressed.  One of my favorite stories he told me was about
him shooting a dump on the kitchen table and his wife asking him "What
caused all this (pointing to the huge stack of paper), and he pointed to
a bit and see "See that, it's a 0 and it should have been a 1"!
Rest in peace Bob, the Godfather of CICS.

Mike Giaquinto

Bob will be sorely missed by all. He and I traded many tales about travels
and I always looked forward to his next adventure. He was a good friend to
many of us that were associated with CICS and I was glad to also know your
mother. We will keep you and your family in our prayers.

Wynn Pope

Bob should be an inspiration to us all. You never know when the last day will be. He lived everyone to the fullest. I hope I can say the same when my time comes.

Being an amateur astronomer, I'll be watching for Bob whenever I observe the constellation CICSsiopeia.

- Rick Woods

Bob and I worked together for a number of years with IBM.  I think I actually beat him in years of service  by about 18 months.  I retired last August. 

I always admired Bob and enjoyed being around him.  He was a very smart person and a very passionate person when it came to CICS.  I know that many people had given him the nickname of "the father of CICS".  Even after he retired he carried the CICS banner where ever he went.  There was a annual educational convention called the CICS Technical Conference and later was called the Messaging and Transaction Processing Conference.  The thousands of people whoever attended that conference knew your father.  And everyone I ever met who knew your father really respected him.  By the way, in case you were not aware of it, CICS is one of the most profitable SW products in the marketplace today and has had that distinction for 20-30 years.  Almost every customer who has a mainframe is running CICS.  Your father was one of the real reasons why CICS is so popular today.

I know you really miss Bob, even more than the CICS community.  There is one thing I want you to know and understand.  Bob was a Christian and because of his belief and your mother's belief, they are together today in a much better place.  I never knew your mother, but I did know Bob when she died in Dallas.  Bob was extremely dedicated to your mother and really missed her.  But, he knew that she was out of her pain and one day he would be reunited with her because of their beliefs.  So while I morn his death, I am happy for him and he is finally at home with our heavenly father.  I will definitely keep you and your brother and sisters in my prayers. 

I am not sure if you are aware of it, but Bob had a very active website at  www.yelavich.com.  If you can get into that website and post a notice, I am sure the CICS community would appreciate it.  I for one had just visited the site a few minutes before receiving your email.  I was looking to see if there was any notice posted on his death. 

Please keep in touch with me.  You know all his friends would be very interested if and when you find additional information about his passing and any arrangements you have made for him.  If there is anything that I can do to help you, please let me know. 

And thank you very much for sending me this email.  I really appreciate it.--

Jim Gideon

Bob was not just another person as far as CICS goes. He was far and away the spokesperson, the advocate of the product we all know and love. Starting with the very early days of CICS, Bob put his whole effort into seeing that CICS succeeded and grew. When changes were required (such as macro to command), Bob would first educate himself in order to understand the problem, and then educate others. His devotion to the product was total; I never sensed any personal gain issue ever with Bob, he was that unselfish. And CICS contributed mightily to IBM's bottom line, in terms of hardware and software sales. Ironically, I doubt if most of the senior management of IBM even know who Bob was.  I'm 99% certain that no one traveled to as many seminars or to Hursley as many times as Bob did. Unquestionably, it was a labor of love.

 

All of you know I have barely even touched on the contributions Bob made to CICS. With this is mind, I think it would be most appropriate to build a fitting memorial to Bob in Hursley that outlined his life and devotion to CICS, with a room of pictures, presentations, whatever, and kind of Hall of Fame for CICS in which Bob would be the first inductee. I think it is important for others in the CICS and IBM families to know what Bob did for CICS, IBM, and them. Now is the time before all of Bob's memorabilia are lost to all time forever.

 

I think someone in Hursley should make this a priority project. I know if the tables were turned, Bob would have done the same for us.

 

Tom  Harper

I just have to add how much I enjoyed Bob's presentations over the years as well.
He was an excellent speaker and great promoter of CICS and the mainframe world. 
He would remind us of the fact that CICS was and still is an incredible product that keeps evolving and worthy of consideration for any software project. 

You could tell he just loved what he did, and was good at it.  He will be greatly missed.

Jim Grund 



  Joe, other than official celebrities such as actors, sport figures,
politicians, I think your dad was known by and touched the lives of more
people than anyone else I have ever known. He traveled the country for
years doing his road shows to sold-out audiences and made and kept many
friends along the way. As far as "crusty" he spoke his mind and didn't
always give the approved IBM answer, which is why so many customers trusted
him.
    You definitely have the correct outlook on life and death and Bob got to
do what he liked such as traveling all over the world up to the end. He
never had to endure a long debilitating illness which to someone who
retained so much energy would have been very difficult. Hold on to your
memories and remember your dad who was truly a "good guy"   

John Cress


 I remember Bob as a person who knew everything there was to know about
CICS but yet was humble enough to admit when he didn't know something.
I had heard Bob's name many times at SHARE and maybe even saw him speak
there when he came to San Antonio at the IBM office to give an all day
presentation on CICS.  I had just been to several classes on Parallel
Sysplex in Dallas and Bob said something which did not jive with what
the instructor in Dallas had said and was published in the materials for
the class.  I raised my hand and brought this up.  I think this was just
before noon.  We took a lunch break and when we reconvened after lunch,
Bob told the whole gathering that over lunch he had done some research
and I was right.  When I would see Bob at SHARE or wherever, he always
had a kind word for me. 

I also remember Bob's passion for CICS and driving it this way or that.
EVEN AFTER HE RETIRED.  I remember many a warm discussion in the CICS
Project Planning Sessions about what HE thought should be presented and
what shouldn't. 

I will miss Bob greatly at SHARE and through his emails and pictures
about his travels.  However, I look forward meeting him again and
listening to his stories once more.

Jim Petersen

Hello Joe,

My name is Russ Teubner and, like so many, I was a friend of your father.

I considered him to be an important mentor; I hope he considered me a worthy “student”.

I hope to make it to Dallas to pay honor to him and your family.

With deep respect and sadness,

 

Russ

Joe,
Kathy and I were shocked to hear of your Dad's passing from Ty.
I respected your Dad more than anyone I met at IBM. From the first time I met him, when he taught part of a class I went to in Chicago to hearing him referenced many times in our office in Dayton to working with him when I went to Palo Alto to discovering that the house we bought in Arlington was almost just across from yours to commuting with him to Irving for a few years. Everyone I ever met at IBM and at customer locations thought he was a really great person and I consider myself lucky to have known him.
The most negative thing I ever heard from Bob was admitting a couple of times that someone or something
upset him. I wish I could say that about me!
My most vivid memory of him was walking into his office (many times) and finding him typing on the computer.
This was a sight: He was completely stretched out (almost prone), legs extended straight under his desk, slouched down in his chair so his head was almost below the back of his chair, arms out straight to the keyboard and eyes on the screen never moving. He would type faster than anyone I have ever seen, hardly ever mistyping
or rethinking what to type. About every 2-3 paragraphs he would stop his fingers, put his head back slightly and think for a few seconds and then begin again. He would answer questions this way from people all over the world
and would give extremely complete answers. Everyone in the Systems Center marveled at how he could do this for hours on many days.

Please know that Kathy and I wish you and the rest of your family all of the best.

Roger

Joe,
I was very sorry to hear of your father's sudden death.   As you know there are thousands of people in IBM and it's customers who have their own personal memories of working with Bob.  I have been copied on many that have been circulated in IBM. One of the memories is that Bob did me the honor of asking me to host his (IBM) 35th anniversary dinner at one of his favorite restaurants in Hursley.  An occasion shared by some of his closest friend and colleagues in IBM.I retired a couple of years ago, but have always been impressed by Bob's ongoing commitment to CICS and its customers. The CICS team in Hursley has asked me to find out from you the extent of the material that is included in the CICS archive that Bob collected.  Having seen this material some years ago in Dallas, I suspect that it is quite extensive in size.    They would also like to know whether there are any 'terms and conditions' which either Bob or his family want to put on the transfer of the archive to IBM or anyone else.

CICS was Bob's life's work at IBM, and in much of his own time and it would be a shame if the archive could not be kept together in IBM.

Ian Harvey

Joe

 

Thank you for informing Walter and me about the loss of one of our classmates. Bob and Shirley and Walt and I were the only two who met in high school and married. Walt and I will celebrate 55 years this year. 

That was a lovely letter you wrote. Yes, your dad loved to travel. It was enlightening to hear about his many admirers in the computer world. 

When you know someone in their early years - in high school - it's heartwarming to hear about their successes. Everyone who went to East High was from a hard-working, some ethnic family. We had lots of Italians, Slovenians and other ethic mixes. No one's family was considered rich, yet so many have achieved richness in their lives. Bob was one of them.  

He talked with admiration of his children, of Shirley, of IBM and his travels. I have to give him sole credit for keeping our class informed and helping to gather us together sporadically.  

I guess I should have known something had happened to Bob when we did not get his Christmas letter. He was so active. I heard of his snowmobiling and cutting wood, etc. Who would have expected him to not outlive us all. 

Our family will all be here in Florida at the end of March to celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary. We will certainly do lots of hugging.

 

God bless you, Johanna
Johanna Guzik

Joe, please accept my sympathy on the loss of your dad.  He was a valued business associate over many years and a man of great integrity. I first met Bob in 1973 when I sat under his tutelage in a 2-week CICS class in New York.  I had just accepted a position as a CICS instructor in San Jose.  In 1974 your dad and his peers at the Palo Alto development lab for CICS helped us design a new course that was quite successful for several years.  After development moved to Hursley, your folks moved to Dallas, and I moved back east to work in a marketing branch office, we occasionally bumped into each other for a period of several years. When I went back into CICS education in 1988, we had a bit more contact through the annual CICS Technical Conference and found ourselves in a the occasional meeting to review course material. The last connection I recall is after we both left IBM but continued to work in CICS support.  I had the rare opportunity as a contractor to take responsibility for courses on front-ending CICS from the Web.  A man in the UK had developed a rather sketchy course and your dad reviewed it to make suggestions for making it more teachable.  I always regarded Bob as a kind of mentor, though we were not as close as that relationship implies, mainly because I love teaching and he did too.  He had a professorial manner and a wonderful grasp of the subject that I often sought to emulate.  After the CICS years, we looked forward every year to his Christmas newsletter.  I will miss that, but am sure you will miss him in a way the rest of us can't.  May God comfort you and the rest of the family.

Ted Robinson