In Memoriam: Fred Tonge, Professor Emeritus and Founding Member of ICS
The UC Irvine community mourns the loss and celebrates the life of Fred Tonge, Professor Emeritus and founding member of the Department of Information and Computer Sciences (now the School of ICS), and founding Director of Computing Facilities at UC Irvine.
The idea for the ICS program at UCI came from a 1965 workshop organized by UCI, with the participation of the University of Michigan, shortly after the establishment of the UC Irvine campus. Alongside UCI’s founding Chancellor Daniel Aldrich Jr., Professor Ralph Gerard and Michigan’s Professor Jim Miller, Professor Tonge welcomed researchers from academia, industry, and government — including IBM, Xerox, Stanford, and the National Science Foundation — to a five-day event on “computers and universities.” Topics covered included Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) Learning Aspects, Technical Aspects, Library Administration, and Regional and National Networks.
In 1970, Tonge became the second chair of the Department of ICS and served again in 1974. His research interests included artificial intelligence, computers and educational technology, and management science, with over thirty publications in computer science and management science. He supervised eight completed doctoral dissertations.
Prior to joining UCI, Tonge was on the faculty at Carnegie-Mellon University and Oregon State University, where he served as Chairman of the Department of Computer Science. His industrial positions include the RAND Corporation and head of the Computer Systems Department at Tektronix, Inc., Computer Research Lab. He served several terms on the Computer Research Board and as a member and chairman of the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, Information Processing Panel.
During his retirement, Tonge spent his time with his family, writing stage plays and weaving. He was also a guest speaker at the ICS 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2018. That same year, the Fred M. Tonge Endowed Graduate Award was established to support ICS Ph.D. students.
“He was always kind, smart, funny, and inspirational,” says ICS alumnus Larry Rowe, who earned his Ph.D. in 1976 and was advised by Tonge. “I owe him a great debt for his guidance and teaching.”
“We’re grateful to Professor Tonge for his countless contributions to the School of ICS,” says Dean Marios Papaefthymiou. “Through the endowment, he continues to positively impact our students and help advance the computing field.”