Revolutionary Work

Tucker's life work has transformed lives as well as tech industry
Rhonda Minton/Advancement

When one spends a career developing systems that revolutionize daily life, committing a gift to help Lipscomb University students achieve their dreams and transform their lives seems like a natural act for Gary Tucker of Austin, Texas.

A native of Nitro, West Virginia, Tucker completed his mathematics and physics studies in three years and graduated from Lipscomb in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Earlier this year, Tucker established a planned gift through the Center for Estate and Gift Planning. His gift that will benefit the R.H. Kerce Endowed Mathematics Scholarship to honor one of the mentors who prepared Tucker for a successful career with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

"Dr. Kerce had a huge role in mentoring and encouraging me in math," Tucker said. "When Dr. Everitte Hunt was brought on board in physics, he instilled a strong interest in physics. As a matter of fact, I was accepted to Florida State University for an advanced degree in physics, but instead, I finished my degree, got married and started my career with IBM."

And what a career Tucker has had. A week after graduating from Lipscomb, Tucker married Shirley "Cookie" Davis, whom he'd met at Lipscomb, and then started at IBM the following week. The couple lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, relocated to Germany for a brief while before returning to the Wheaton area, near Washington, D.C.

In 1977, the Tuckers moved their family to Austin because IBM was expanding its research lab into computers and not just typewriters, and Tucker found himself in a role that transformed the tech industry. Tucker was on the task force team that created the preliminary designs for the personal computer. However, Tucker is most proud of the work he did in "text processing," the precursor to what is known as "word processing."

"A good deal of my career was spent in the text-processing field," he said. "In 1970, my team designed, created and delivered a newspaper publishing system to some Japanese newspapers. I was responsible for the text-processing aspect of the system.

"When we finished up that project, I started working on IBM's text-processing or 'word processing' systems. I was instrumental in designing all of IBM's text processing systems," he said. "Before word-processing became an app on a personal computer; there were actual word-processing machines that people bought to do word-processing."

Although other tech companies were in the process of developing personal computers, IBM is credited as a leader in launching them for public use in the early 1980s.

"Internally, we called them 'luggables' because they were so heavy," he said. Needless to say, Tucker has witnessed significant changes in the tech industry.

"When I started with IBM, the machine I worked on had 4K memory," he said. "Your watch today has many times more memory than that. A system that has the power of your iPhone now would've taken up the entire floor of a building with multiple AC units to keep them cool back then. So, I've seen a lot of changes in the industry."

And if being involved in creating personal computers and word-processing wasn't revolutionary enough, Tucker and his team developed the United States Postal Service's letter mail code-sorting system.

"We were the team that introduced placing barcodes on envelopes for automatic handling," he said. "About a month ago, a friend told me that when he started working, he was trained on how to use the automated system and had used it for years. And I said, 'By the way, I was on the team that created that!'"

Tucker, who retired from IBM in 1993, maintains an active lifestyle through volunteerism and keeping up with their three daughters and seven granddaughters.

"I retired relatively young, and it has given me the ability to do a lot of volunteering, especially with young people," Tucker said.

He has been involved with the youth group at church since the early 1980s and stills goes on mission trips because "They keep me young." This year will be his eighth year going to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the youth group coordinates and holds a week-long Vacation Bible School.

Tucker serves his Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ congregation in its meal program that serves between 300 and 500 people twice a month.

"I'm not really a good chef or cook, but for some reason, when I retired in 1993, I became the cook," he said with a grin. "I'm more of an organizer and recruit good chefs. I have an excellent team."

He also served as a middle school volunteer, tutoring seventh-grade students in math. In addition, he recently began volunteering a nearby elementary school with "Academy 4," a Dallas-based program that connects fourth graders with mentors.

Tucker's commitment to helping students stems from the guidance and encouragement he received as a Lipscomb student and his belief in the values of a Christian education.

"A Christian college education is not only learning technical things, but it also gives you the skills to do critical thinking—and to do that with a set of personal values," Tucker said. "I was fortunate working for a company like IBM where I was very seldom put into a situation that challenged my Christian basics at all."

Using planned giving to give back to Lipscomb and help students is an opportunity Tucker encourages others to consider.

"From a financial viewpoint, your money is much more valuable because when I can give it to Lipscomb, the university gets the full value without all the taxes involved," he said. "We talk sometimes about the importance of giving forward, and in a sense using planned giving is giving forward to the next generation. It's becoming more and more expensive for students to get an education, and whatever little bit of help we can give would mean a lot.

"I've been very blessed to have lived in the Golden Era. I received a very strong, solid technical education that enabled me to analyze situations, think creatively and problem solve," Tucker said. "Lipscomb gave me the tools that provided me a very good life. Being taught by Dr. Kerce, Dr. Hunt as well as Dr. Baxter and Dean Mack Wayne Craig - just gave me a good, solid faith foundation.

"As a result, I now have some of the means to give back and help provide support to young students," Tucker said.