[Irl-dean] Fw: Blindness Industry Mourns Loss of Innovative Leader

[Gerry Ellis]

Hi,

Please find below more details on the death of Russell smith.

Russell was a real giant in the area of accessibility for people with disabilities, particularly blind people.

Humanware's products bring modern technologies to products that were up to recently isolated and antiquated, such as bluetooth connectivity in products like the BrailleNote that used to be little more than glorified note takers.

He will be missed.


Take care,

Gerry Ellis
t/a Feel The BenefIT

Tel   (+353-1) 282-7791
Mob   (085) 716-8665
email gerry.ellis at feelthebenefit.com

If you don't know where you're going,
How will you know when you get there?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "HumanWare" <us.news at humanware.com>
To: "Gerry Ellis" <gellis at gofree.indigo.ie>
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 12:02 AM
Subject: Blindness Industry Mourns Loss of Innovative Leader


CONTACT: Jonathan Mosen - 925-566-9265 - jonathan.mosen at humanware.com

CONCORD, CA (August 9, 2005) - HumanWare announced today, with deep sadness, the death of the company's founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Russell Smith, and his wife Marian who were killed on Sunday, August 7th in the crash of their Cessna 182.  Russell and Marian, as they are known to most of the blindness industry, were avid fliers who had built their own private airstrip at their home in Aylesford, New Zealand.  On Sunday while returning home together from Nelson, their aircraft crashed into the sea north of Christchurch.

"Russell devoted his entire working life to developing innovative technology for people who are blind or visually impaired," stated Philip Rance, President of HumanWare USA.  "In his 30 years of service, he became an icon and was recognized, honored and admired throughout the world."  Rance added, "His death, at age 60, is a huge loss to the blindness industry as a whole.  Both he and Marian will be greatly missed by family, friends, and colleagues all over the world."

Dr. Smith graduated from University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, with B.E.(Hons) in Electrical Engineering and went on to complete a Ph.D. degree in 1972.  His doctoral research concerned new techniques for designing transducers and information displays for under-water sonar systems.  He joined the Wormald International Group in 1975 to head a new division which would develop the SonicGuide sonar mobility aid for the blind.  The benefit of Russell's earlier research in sonar techniques was instrumental in ensuring the successful launch of this innovative product on to the world blindness market. In 1976 Russell was appointed the first Manager of Wormald International Sensory Aids Ltd, which became Pulse Data International Ltd in January 1988 after a management buyout.  In January 2005 Russell finalized a merger of the company with Canadian-based VisuAide, and the new combined company was renamed HumanWare Ltd.   

"Russell Smith was one of the fathers of our industry," notes Jim Halliday, President Emeritus of HumanWare USA.  "In the 30 years since we first meet, he has inspired and driven the development of an amazing list of technological firsts that have and will continue to create opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired."  He emphasizes, "Russell's legacy will live long after the rest of us are gone!"

Some of the "firsts" Smith's company have developed include:

Sonic Guide (1976) - the world's first sonar-based electronic travel aid.  
Mowat Sensor (1978) - the world's first hand-held electronic travel aid.  
Viewscan (1980) - the world's first portable, high contrast, large print reading system employing a hand-scan camera and a flat-panel display using 7,000 light pixels.  
Viewscan Text System (1983) - the world's first portable, large print, word processing system.  
Keynote (1986) - the world's first portable, talking word processor.  
The Viewpoint VGA (1989) - the first video magnifier to support a split screen computer connection with an industry standard computer display.
SmartView (1995) - the world's first video magnifier to introduce built-in date, time, and calculator functions.  
SmartView Xtra (1999) - the first video magnifiers to achieve "plug and play" capability with a wide range of PC display formats.  
BrailleNote (2000) - the world's first true Braille PDA 
myReader (2004) - the world's first low vision auto-reader

As well as being Chief Executive of the HumanWare Group, Russell was Chairman of the Board of the group's Europe, Australia, USA, and Canada subsidiary companies. Rance acknowledged, "Although we are a very solid company with teams in place to manage effectively well into the future, we will all miss Russell's inspiration and guidance, his tenacity, and his kind humanity.  He and Marian will leave a huge void in all of our lives."


A memorial service will be held in the US to honor of Dr. Russell Smith - Date and location to be advised.   

About HumanWare 

HumanWare designs and manufactures innovative technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. The company's products include integrated speech and Braille technology, a range of video magnifier solutions, screen reading software and speech synthesizers. For more information about HumanWare, visit www.humanware.com.



HumanWare
175 Mason Circle
Concord CA 94520
800.722.3393
www.humanware.com

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