Joseph Becker; Computer Data Storage Expert
Joseph Becker, a librarian, engineer and computer specialist who was a pioneer in computerizing information storage and retrieval, has died. He was 72.
Becker died July 23 in Santa Monica of complications of Parkinson’s disease, his business partner, former UCLA library sciences dean Robert M. Hayes, said Friday.
The two men co-authored the internationally known 1963 book “Information Storage and Retrieval,” considered a seminal work in the area of computer applications to information science.
Becker was president of their consulting firm, Becker & Hayes, based in West Los Angeles. Among Becker’s clients were the World Bank, the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the governments of Japan, Italy, China and Great Britain.
From 1984 until his death, Becker worked with the University of the World, a nonprofit academic group that promotes the distribution of educational resources to Third World countries through computers, videos and telecommunications avenues.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Becker to the National Commission of Libraries and Information Science. He served until 1979.
Becker was founder and editor of an international journal called the Information Society and wrote several books on information processing, including “National Information Policy: A Report to the President of the United States” and “The Handbook of Data Processing for Libraries.”
He also wrote a work for children, “The First Book of Information Science and Technology,” and organized library-of-the-future exhibits for the New York and Seattle world’s fairs.
A native of New York educated at Brooklyn Polytech and Catholic University, Becker began his career in Army intelligence during World War II and remained with the CIA until 1968.
Becker is survived by his wife of 50 years, Arlene, of Pacific Palisades; a son, William, of Los Angeles; three daughters, Jane Garzilli of Los Angeles, Sara Allman of San Francisco and Wendy Maltz of Eugene, Ore., and four grandchildren.
The family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to the Joseph Becker Memorial Respite Fund, Children of Parkinsonians, 73-700 El Paseo Suite 2, Palm Desert, Calif. 92260.
