Bon voyage, Bernie!

Bernie O'Lear, associate director of SCD from 1994–2003, bids SCD and NCAR "Adieu" at his retirement party on 10 January 2003. Colleages and friends from the past four decades attended the fete, which honored Bernie for his 38.7 years of service to NCAR.

Giving tributes were Don Middleton, manager of SCD's Vizualization and Enabling Technologies Section; Warren Washington, manager of the Climate Change Research Section in NCAR's Climate and Global Dynamics Division; Gene Harano, manager of SCD's High-Performance Systems Section; Bill Buzbee, former director of SCD; Greg McArthur, head of SCD's Digital Information Group; Al Kellie, director of SCD; and Marla Meehl, manager of SCD's Network Engineering and Technologies Section; and Tom Taylor, a personal friend. UCAR president Rick Anthes joined Al Kellie in presenting Bernie with a framed photo of NCAR.

In deference to Bernie's love of France, the party had a Gallic theme. French cuisine was served, and decorations included checkered tablecloths, posters of Napoleon and Brigitte Bardot, a model of the Eiffel Tower, and an "Arc de Retirement" at the entrance of the NCAR cafeteria.

Bernie began working at NCAR in 1964. Known as "the father of NCAR's Mass Storage System," he was a key player in bringing the first mass store to NCAR in 1977. He started the SCD Mass Storage System Group and was a key person in founding the IEEE Computer Society MSS Technical Committee.

Project manager for the University Satellite Network (USAN) in the mid-1980s, Bernie became manager of SCD's High-Performance Systems Section in 1986, expanding activities of the group in 1991 to include networking. He became associate director of SCD in 1994.

His last day of work was on 3 January, when he turned over the reins to new SCD associate director Tom Bettge.

A photo gallery of Bernie's retirement party is available in SCD News on the web at:

http://www.scd.ucar.edu/news/03/features/0207.bto.html