Robert Asquith Simmonds

Born on July 16 1936, had a distinguished career as a British army officer until resigning his commission in 1970 aged 34 at which point he joined IBM and became the foremost authority on backup technology, inventing several pioneering backup technologies many of which are still used today.
After progressing through the ranks of IBM management at great speed he was appointed head of backup technology for IBM in 1976 and was one of the first IBM execs to command a multi million pound salary outside of the US.
After several years of committed service to IBM he resigned in 1980 due to ill health caused by breathing in the dust generated by backup tapes as the move through the read/write head in the tape drive, this dust eventually lead to chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder, a law suit to sue IBM failed a year later due to the fact he was exposed to asbestos during his military service and blame could not be placed definitively on the backup tape dust.
Simmonds died at his home in june 1983 in Kent surrounded by friends including legends of the computing world such as Gordon Moore and Bill Gates, whom he had played chess with on a regular basis for many years, his last words on his death bed were directed towards Bill Gates and were “I wish I had done more backup administration in my life”
He is servived by a son, Luke born out of wedlock to the woman he employed for many years as his house maid Mary Coors
References
Luke Maywether simmonds

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