Thomas J. Harley, Jr.
Jan. 31, 1929-Oct. 5, 2016
Palo Alto, California

Thomas Joseph Harley, Jr. died on Oct. 5 in Palo Alto, California, at 87 years old. He died peacefully at home with his family. He was born in Philadelphia to Thomas Joseph Harley, Sr. and Margaret (Ritsert) Harley. He is preceded in death by his sister Jeanne (Harley) Stilwill of Spring Hill, Florida.

Tom graduated from Northeast High School in Philadelphia in 1946 and from the University of Pennsylvania with an AB in Mathematics (1951), a BS in Electrical Engineering (1958) and an MS in Electrical Engineering (1965). He was awarded the Charles LeGyte Fortescue Fellowship for 1958-1959 by the IRE (now the IEEE), and was a life member of the IEEE.

He worked as a crypt analyst for the National Security Agency early in his career. Tom served in the Army from 1954-1956 at Aberdeen, Maryland. In 1959, he joined Philco Corporate Research Labs in Philadelphia. At Philco, he made significant contributions to the first practical implementation of Optical Character Recognition and image pattern recognition. He remained with Philco’s corporate successors for 41 years, moving to Palo Alto in 1975 to join the Ford Aerospace Western Development Labs. In 2001, he retired from Lockheed Martin and continued to work as a systems engineering consultant for several years.

Tom is survived by his wife of 64 years, Barbara (Langdon); his children Rebecca Martin (John) of Carrollton, Texas, Thomas J. Harley III of El Sobrante, California, Carolyn Harley (Joanna) of Palo Alto, California and Robert Harley (Christina) of New York City, New York; three grandchildren Kaitlyn Martin of Lubbock,Texas, Katerina Brownstein and Leo Brownstein of Palo Alto, California; niece Judy Klimas; and great-niece Heidi Muenger (Charlie) of Florida.

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