When his wife accepted a position as professor of Old Testament studies at Columbia Theological Seminary in 1994, Jim Griesmer, a longtime IBM mathematician in New York, realized he was destined to spend a retirement of increasingly diminished physical activity in the Atlanta area..
Three years earlier, he had been diagnosed in 1991 with early-stage peripheral neuropathy. “Over time that meant a creeping paralysis of his legs and arms,” said his wife, Kathleen O’Connor of Decatur.
Just the same, he was determined to lead a meaningful life here, she said.
He tutored children at Winona Park elementary school in Decatur for as long as he was able.
He took courses at Emory’s Senior University semester after semester, primarily in history and the fine arts,
He became active in ABLE (Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment). John Gurbal, former associate director of the DeKalb County government’s transportation division, remembers Mr. Griesmer as a passionate and effective ABLE advocate for building sidewalks along Briarcliff Road between Lavista and Clairmont Roads.
Chiefly, though, he looked out for men and women with similar neurological maladies.
For more than a decade, Mr. Griesmer led a support group of 30 metro Atlantans afflicted with neuropathy. They met monthly for luncheon meetings where he would bring them up to date on new treatments and research, plus offer his counsel to individuals in the group.
“Jim was an inspiration to us, both by his leadership and his general good nature,” said Howard Montgomery of Decatur. “He had a more severe form of the disease – motor neuropathy, which restricted his mobility. Most of us had sensory neuropathy, which is painful but can be treated with medication.
“Despite his condition,” he said, “Jim was unfailingly, outrageously positive. For us, he was a constant source of comfort and encouragement.”
Dr. Hillary Hargreaves, an Atlanta pathologist and a former co-leader of the group, said said Mr. Griesmer was a patient and sympathetic listener whenever members phoned him for advice.
“Jim had immense strength to cope with his disease given all its frustrations,” she said. “I consider him tremendously brave.”
James Hugo Griesmer, 82, of Decatur died Tuesday at the DeKalb Medical Center of heart failure. His memorial Mass will be 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 6, at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church, 25 Boulevard NE, Atlanta. A.S. Turner & Sons funeral home is in charge of arrangements.
Born in Ohio and reared in Michigan, Mr. Griesner did undergraduate work at Notre Dame University and earned his doctorate at Princeton University.
For many years, he worked at IBM’s Thomas Watson Research Center where he collaborated with others in developing ScratchPad, a system for computers to understand algebra. It was able to add, subtract, multiply, divide, factor, display and otherwise mathematically manipulate algebraic expressions, said his son, Stephen Griesmer of Westfield, N.J., a computer scientist with AT&T.
His father also formulated a principle that bears his name, the Griesmer bound. This sets a limit on the minimum number of digits needed to send information over a communication line or encode information digitally so if there are errors in the transmitted information they can be detected and corrected.
“Finding the smallest number of digits to encode information and still correct errors helps develop algorithms that enable us to watch video on our cellphones or listen to scratched CDs,” his son said.
Survivors also include two daughters, Gretchen McHenry of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., and Romie Katcher [both cq] of Media, Pa.; another son, Martin Griesmer of Arlington, Mass.; a sister, Ruth Koerber of Dearborn, Mich.; a brother, Don Griesmer of Germantown, Pa., and 10 grandchildren.
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