In passing

John Diebold, 79; computer advocate

John Diebold, a business visionary who preached computerization during the era of Elvis and Eisenhower as the future of worldwide industry, has died at 79.

Diebold died of esophageal cancer Monday at his home in suburban Bedford Hills, N.Y.

Although Diebold is now hailed as a prophet of the computerized future, his zeal for computers was not widely shared in the 1950s.

After graduating from the Harvard Business School in 1951, he was hired by a New York management consulting firm and was fired three times for insisting that clients consider computerizing.

“I was too early,” he once said. “It was before the first computer was installed for business use.”

Diebold laid out his vision of a computerized future with his 1952 book, “Automation,” which presented the then-radical notion of using programmable devices in daily business. The influential book was reissued on the 30th and 40th anniversaries of its publication.

His vision of the future was conceived while serving in the Merchant Marine during World War II. He watched the ship’s anti-aircraft fire control system, with its crude self-correcting mechanisms, and he envisioned adapting the technology for business use.

In 1954, Diebold launched his consulting firm John Diebold & Associates. Over the next half-century, his firm, which had no connection to electronic equipment company Diebold Inc., provided advice to AT&T, IBM, Boeing and Xerox, along with the cities of Chicago and New York and the countries of Venezuela and Jordan.

In 1961 his firm created an electronic network for the Bowery Savings Bank in New York that allowed immediate updates of all transactions, allowing customers to bank at any branch. His company also developed a network that changed the way hospitals keep records, medical records and statistics to be collected electronically.

Bud Blake, 87; comic strip artist

Bud Blake, who created the award-winning comic strip “Tiger” after quitting his job as a New York ad man to pursue his love of drawing, has died. He was 87.

Blake died Monday at Maine Medical Center, according to King Features Syndicate, which distributes the comic.

The strip, with its cast of Tiger and his boyhood pals, was named as the year’s best humor strip in 1970, 1978 and 2000 by the National Cartoonists Society. It still appears in more than 100 newspapers in 11 countries, King Features said.

The strip, which captured children’s humor and charm, included Tiger; his little brother, Punkinhead; his best friend, Hugo; and his dog, Stripe. Blake said the character Hugo was based on a boy who used to beat him up as a youngster growing up in New Jersey. Stripe was based on Blake’s boyhood dog, Jenny.

Blake continued drawing “Tiger” until he was 85.

Lewis Hanson, 81; presidential pilot

Lewis Hanson, a pilot for four presidents who co-piloted the flight that brought John F. Kennedy’s body back from Dallas aboard Air Force One, has died. He was 81.

Hanson, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, died at a hospital Tuesday, according the Mayhew Funeral Home in Meredith, N.H.

Hanson also flew British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the shah of Iran. Hanson’s presidential passengers included President Harry S. Truman, General (and later President) Dwight D. Eisenhower and President Lyndon Johnson.

No flight was sadder for him than bringing Kennedy’s body back to Washington from Dallas. On Nov. 22, 1963, he had watched Kennedy step from the plane at Love Field, then went to visit his mother-in-law. He saw news of the assassination on television.

“My mind rejected the idea, as though it was some kind of bad dream,” said Hanson, who flew as pilot or back-up pilot on every trip during Kennedy’s presidential years.

Later that day, he stood in the doorway of Air Force One while Johnson, with Jackie Kennedy by his side, took the oath of office.

“We knew we were witnessing an historic event,” he said. “There was a new president. And there was sadness.”

Hanson retired in 1969 to Center Harbor, N.H., where he raised cattle and chickens and produced maple syrup. He became a selectman in 1970, a position he held for more than 35 years until his death.