Others Remember Samuel D. Conte

Department of Computer Sciences @ Purdue University

Others Remember Samuel D. Conte
Arthur E. Oldehoeft
Professor Emeritus, Iowa State University
Sam Conte did many things to impact my life, ranging from acts of kindness to providing sound professional advice that served me well over many years. I will mention only several since it would take many pages to describe them all.
When I arrived at Purdue in 1965 as a graduate student, I was newly married and I did not have much money. My spouse, Margie, and I rented an apartment in West Lafayette and our furniture consisted of a bedroom suite, a kitchen table and chair set, and a table lamp (acquired with green stamps) that we set on the floor for lack of any other place to put it. Sam Conte, realizing our plight, gave us one section of an old sofa that we used for several years. Years later, when Sam was visiting our computer science department at Iowa State University, I mentioned this to him. He just smiled with a sense of satisfaction of having helped someone in need.
One day, as I was walking down the hall of the computer science building at Purdue, I stopped to listen to a conversation that Sam Conte was having with another graduate student who was nearing completion of his Ph.D. degree. The student said, "When I graduate, I won't have to work this hard anymore. I will be able to take life easy!" Sam began to laugh, almost hysterically, and it took some time for him to stop laughing. But he said nothing! At the time, I thought this whole incident to be rather strange and, for the life of me, I couldn't see any humor in it. After I graduated and worked to qualify for tenure and promotions at Iowa State University, I thought about this incident many times with a clear understanding of the message that was conveyed by Sam Conte's laugh.
Shortly before graduating from Purdue, I had a conversation with Sam Conte about my career objectives. He told me, "If you want to be successful, surround yourself with good people." This was one single piece of advice that had a profound impact on my professional life. As a professor, I competed for the brightest graduate students; as Director of Graduate Admissions, I worked to recruit the best graduate students to the department; and as chairman of the department, I worked hard to recruit the best faculty and staff. On those occasions when I failed to follow Sam Conte's advice, I suffered the consequences - fortunately for me, this did not happen often.

Dan Reed
Director, NCSA, University of Illinois
When I arrived as a new graduate student on a bitterly cold January day in 1979, Sam was my first academic advisor. I will never forget him taking time from his duties as department head to offer advice on courses and degree planning. Even after I had learned the ropes, he was always a smiling face with a quick word of encouragement.
Only much, much later, when I was a department head myself, did I truly realize how much he had done, both for Purdue and for the nation, to make computer science the respected and thriving discipline it is today.
He was a true pioneer, in all of the great senses of that word, and he will be sorely missed by those of us who considered him a friend.

Paula Perkins
Admin. Assistant in Department of Computer Sciences, Purdue University
My remembrance of Dr. Sam Conte is one of a very professional person, but yet very congenial to everyone. I remember him as always having a smile on his face and greeting me as an old friend each time we met. I was hired by Dr. Conte in October 1978 and worked as his secretary from January of 1979 until he retired in June of 1979. I will always be grateful to him for giving me the chance to work for him and to obtain the job I really wanted. I will miss him tremendously!

Peter Denning
George Mason University
Sam intercepted me on an elevator at an ACM conference in winter 1972, and proposed that I apply to Purdue. He was so convincing that I agreed to come for interview shortly thereafter. He and Saul Rosen arranged a delightful party and I fell in love with all the people in the department. He had an offer I could not refuse waiting for me when I returned home to Princeton. Talk about a powerful elevator speech!
At around the same time, University of Rochester was trying to recruit me. Dorothy, who as an instructor at the time, was on the search committee. I visited during the cold of winter. When we were introduced in the faculty dining room, a great static electric spark jumped between our hands. (The spark remains to this day.) Although I did not go to Rochester, shortly after I accepted Sam's offer to join the Purdue faculty, I told him of Dorothy's interest in a PhD. Soon he made her an offer to come to Purdue as an instructor and PhD candidate. That old electric spark soon turned to a relationship and Dorothy and I were married in Lafayette in January 1974, with Sam and Peggy offering their encouragement and best wishes.
Several years later, Dorothy and I were having some difficulties in our relationship. One morning I walked into Sam's office to tell him that Dorothy and I were thinking of splitting up. He looked up from his Wall Street Journal, peered at me over his reading glasses with an unmistakable look of disgust, and said, "Can't you kids find a better way to solve your problems?" That simple shot between the eyes made an enormous impact. Dorothy and I solved our problems and are still together after 30 years. Sam helped bring us together and keep us together. We cannot express our gratitude to him enough. He lives on with us.

Andra Short Boehning
Friend
I first met Sam through the Wabash Center in Lafayette. He was a volunteer at the center's annual casino night fundraiser. He knew how to bring a craps table to life! I met Sam again when I accepted the position of Director of Development for Computer Sciences at Purdue. Over the next five years Sam and Peggy became very dear people in my life. I once told Sam that he could hit a golf ball like a 60 year old. Sam responded with "you hit a golf ball like your 60 too!" I was 32 then! I will miss him but each time I play a round, I will think of him.

Gene Spafford
Purdue CS/CERIAS
I met Sam Conte in 1987 when I was interviewing for a faculty position at Purdue. I was a little intimidated at first, and it wasn't eased by his probing questions about my research, and my opinions about some commercial products. However, after a few responses (including a few "I really don't know" answers), he set me at ease with a big smile. I soon discovered that Sam valued what people admitted to NOT knowing almost as much as what they did know. I had passed his initial b.s. test.
In the following years, I would seek Sam's advice when I wanted a perspective that included more than the technology. His manner was sometimes a bit gruff, but that was because he was candid and to the point in his responses. I remember the feeling of having "arrived" in a sense when Sam first started asking for my professional opinions on issues outside of my research. He would challenge me on those opinion if they didn't match his expectations, but his arguments were always with the issues and not with me, personally. I learned from that.
Sam greeted his friends with a big smile when he saw them. We all miss that smile, and all that went with it.

Others Remember
Professor Conte

Arthur Oldehoeft

Dan Reed

Paula Perkins

Peter Denning

Andra Short Boehning

Gene Spafford