[nfbcs] FW: Obituary for Joe Lazzaro

[David Andrews]

>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Distribution list for EASI Web Conferences, Podcasts and News 
>[mailto:ITD-JNL at LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG] On Behalf Of Prof Norm Coombs
>Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 6:56 PM
>To: ITD-JNL at LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG
>Subject: Obituary for Joe Lazzaro
>
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>
>Thanks to Kathy Cahill for this announcement!
>
>
>
>
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>Some of you who have been around a while may know or remember Joe 
>Lazzaro, who ran the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind 
>Technology Program and wrote two books about Assistive Technologies
>-- Adaptive Technologies for Learning and Work Environments, and
>Adapting PCs for Disabilities.   Joe passed away suddenly on November 18th.
>
>Joe was blind from early childhood.  He was graduate of UMass Boston 
>where he discovered adaptive technologies and became an early user 
>of screen readers.  He loved to program and was a total geek.  Joe 
>majored in Physics and refused to take his Vocational Rehab 
>Counselor's advice to run a state subsidized snack stand at an 
>office building.  He wanted more as a blind person.  He was such an 
>early adopter of assistive technologies that he, his wife Cindy and 
>two other friends started a company called Talking Computers that 
>customized PCs for blind and visually impaired users.
>
>Joe went on run the Adaptive Technology Program at the Mass.
>Commission for the Blind.  In his spare time, he loved to write 
>science fiction and was a published author of science fiction.  Joe 
>went on to run the Assistive Technology Program for the State of 
>Massachusetts Information Technology Division (ITD) working with 
>vendors and state agencies on increasing accessibility of state 
>technologies and websites for people with disabilities.
>
>Joe believed in the power of technology to transform people's lives 
>and helped to provide those technologies so that blind clients could 
>get what they needed to study or work at a job.  It's amazing to 
>think about how far things have come since I first started working 
>for Joe in 1988, back in the days of DOS and gigantic cards you had
>to insert into a PC.   He taught me a lot about assistive
>technologies, about disability and just generally about the human 
>condition.  He was a great teacher and a good friend.  I will miss 
>him.  Thank you for all you did, Joe.
>
>Here is the online
>obituary.
><http://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=2327730&fh_id=13645>http://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=2327730&fh_id=13645 
>
>
>
>
>
>Thanks for reading,
>Kathy Cahill
>
>Assistive Technology Specialist
>
>
>
>-----------------------
>Check out EASI's New Synchronous Clinics:
>http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
>
>EASI Home Page http://www.rit.edu/~easi
>Online Courses and Clinics http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
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>
>
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>Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
>
>Thanks to Kathy Cahill for this announcement!
>
>
>
>
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>Some of you who have been around a while may know or remember Joe 
>Lazzaro, who ran the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind 
>Technology Program and wrote two books about Assistive Technologies 
>-- Adaptive Technologies for Learning and Work Environments, and 
>Adapting PCs for Disabilities.   Joe passed away suddenly on November 18th.
>
>Joe was blind from early childhood.  He was graduate of UMass Boston 
>where he discovered adaptive technologies and became an early user 
>of screen readers.  He loved to program and was a total geek.  Joe 
>majored in Physics and refused to take his Vocational Rehab 
>Counselor's advice to run a state subsidized snack stand at an 
>office building.  He wanted more as a blind person.  He was such an 
>early adopter of assistive technologies that he, his wife Cindy and 
>two other friends started a company called Talking Computers that 
>customized PCs for blind and visually impaired users.
>
>Joe went on run the Adaptive Technology Program at the Mass. 
>Commission for the Blind.  In his spare time, he loved to write 
>science fiction and was a published author of science fiction.  Joe 
>went on to run the Assistive Technology Program for the State of 
>Massachusetts Information Technology Division (ITD) working with 
>vendors and state agencies on increasing accessibility of state 
>technologies and websites for people with disabilities.
>
>Joe believed in the power of technology to transform people's lives 
>and helped to provide those technologies so that blind clients could 
>get what they needed to study or work at a job.  It's amazing to 
>think about how far things have come since I first started working 
>for Joe in 1988, back in the days of DOS and gigantic cards you had 
>to insert into a PC.   He taught me a lot about assistive 
>technologies, about disability and just generally about the human 
>condition.  He was a great teacher and a good friend.  I will miss 
>him.  Thank you for all you did, Joe.
>
>Here is the online 
>obituary. 
><http://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=2327730&fh_id=13645>http://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=2327730&fh_id=13645 
>
>
>
>
>Thanks for reading,
>Kathy Cahill
>
>Assistive Technology Specialist
>
>
>-----------------------
>Check out EASI's New Synchronous Clinics:
><a href="http://easi.cc/clinic.htm" 
>target="_blank">http://easi.cc/clinic.htm</a>
><p>
>EASI Home Page <a href="http://www.rit.edu/~easi" 
>target="_blank">http://www.rit.edu/~easi</a>
>Online Courses and Clinics <a href="http://easi.cc/workshop.htm" 
>target="_blank">http://easi.cc/workshop.htm</a>
>To sign off this list
>send e-mail to <a 
>href="mailto:listserv at listserv.icors.org">listserv at listserv.icors.org</a> 
>saying
>signoff itd-jnl
></p><p>
>
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