Richard L. Cogger

Richard L. Cogger  May 1941 - January 2025

Richard "Dick" Cogger, electronics geek, information technology
professional, and self-described "Jack of all trades" died age 83 on
Friday the 10th, at the Bridges Cornell Heights "Fossil" residence,
after a long decline with Alzheimer's.

Dick was born in Detroit, Michigan, to parents Carroll Smith Cogger,
electrical engineer and inventor, and Ruth (Loomis) Cogger, chemist and
high school biology teacher. Growing up in Detroit, he loved cars,
learned all he could, and built motorscooters with lawn mower engines.
He learned about electronics from building radios with his dad.

Graduating a semester early from Cooley High School in '59, he spent
that spring at the Albert Schweizer College in Churwalden, Switzerland.
He studied philosophy and literature -- his interests were broadening.
Back in Detroit, an old friend (and his father who could listen to
classical recordings for hours) influenced Dick to apply his skills to
hi-fi. He and this friend had the luck to be hired by Motown in its
heyday. In the year and a half that he was there, Dick built the
recording studio and apparatus, organized and numbered the tape library,
and did whatever was needed for recording sessions. He liked to recall
how he took Diana Ross for a ride once in his Morgan sports car, or
played darts with Smokey Robinson on breaks.

After Motown, Dick attended progressive Goddard College in Vermont
(recently closed) for one year, 1962-63, immersing himself in liberal
arts and honing his writing skills. He ski bummed on the side and during
the following year. A year of college seemed all he could manage the
patience for (as he would later admit) and with his skills it was easy
for him to find a variety of jobs. In 1964 at the University of
Michigan, Dick was designing experiments using digital logic. At the
University of Chicago, he started as Electronics Technician, and he
finished as Technical Coordinator of Administrative Services, in 1969.

Hired then by Cornell, he became a manager in Systems Programming, later
termed Cornell Information Technology (CIT.) There were many
groundbreaking projects... In the mid-1980's the campus was ready to
have fiberoptic cable laid, a huge undertaking which Dick was at the
center of planning. Over the years he would attend meetings around the
country to keep abreast of developments, or sometimes to recruit new
talent to the Advanced Technologies Group at Cornell. Excited by the new
possibilities of the internet, in 1992 he engaged statistician Tim
Dorcey to help develop what turned out to be the first video
conferencing program for MacIntosh, and it took off, becoming a high
point of Dick's career and fulfilling his vision of what the freedom of
the internet and a little computing power could achieve. Schools all
over the world could share projects such as field work in ecology, and
it was called the Global Schoolhouse. The video program got the catchy
name CU-SeeMe and received a lot of attention; Cornell got grants from
the NSF to develop it further, for some years.

Dick's group of programmers had a remarkable cohesiveness, perhaps due
to the respect and free rein that Dick gave them. When new CIT
leadership planned to separate the group to different departments, they
had the idea to market themselves as a group, and it worked. They were
hired by a Canadian software company, a few years later bought by
Nokia... all continuing to be based in Ithaca. Some years later when
Nokia decided they didn't need the Ithaca group, some programmers went
back to Cornell, some elsewhere; Dick decided to take early retirement.
His idea was, with his interest in flamenco and classical guitars, to
take up building them as a second career. A constant hobby of Dick's had
been making and fixing things. He collected tools and machinery of all
kinds, so he could make whatever special jigs he needed for guitars, and
he finished perhaps 20. Part of his vision was to share his workshop
with others wanting to try the craft. (Andy Culpepper, starting out with
Dick, now has his own very successful guitarmaking shop in Trumansburg.)
A meeting with local baroque oboe maker MaryPaul Kirkpatrick and her
workshop, back in 1985, led to their marriage in 1986. (Two earlier
marriages had ended in divorce.) MaryPaul joined Dick in some other
interests, notably tai chi with the Taoist Tai Chi Society, and they
were both active as instructors. They both also attended the Unitarian
church; Dick had grown up Unitarian. He became active on various
committees and on the Board. After serving as president, he was praised
for his even-handedness.

Dick was a lifelong atheist, and an avid and eclectic reader -- of
science and science fiction, history, health, politics, mysteries...
Other interests included photography, cycling, and tennis, which he also
taught. He kept "hitting" with a partner till the end of his active
life. Because Dick's mother died of Alzheimer's, he hoped to fend it off
with healthy living and exercise, but sadly such measures failed him. He
was in memory care the last three years, most recently at the Bridges
residence in Cornell Heights, where he received excellent care.

Dick is survived by his wife MaryPaul Kirkpatrick, daughters Skye Fae
Parker and Jane Erica Cogger, his sister Susan Cogger-Williams and her
wife Terry, and nephew Andrew Mitchell. Donations may be made in memory
of Richard Cogger to the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, NAMI Finger
Lakes, or Hospicare. A celebration of Dick's life will be held at the
First Unitarian Church, corner of Aurora and Buffalo Streets, on
February 15 at 3:00 pm.