Wes Graham


Wes Graham was a Canadian professor of computer science at the University of Waterloo, with strong ties to industry.

Biography

Graham was born on January 17, 1932 in Copper Cliff, Ontario. His interest in computing developed while studying math and physics at the University of Toronto. After working at IBM as a systems engineer, Graham accepted a position at the University of Waterloo in 1959 becoming one of the first professors of Computer Science. In 1962, Graham was named the director of Waterloo's Computing Centre when it was established as a separate entity from Department of Mathematics.
In 1965, when James G. Mitchell, then an undergraduate student at Waterloo, wrote an academic paper on how to write a teaching compiler for Fortran, that could compile, link, and execute a typical undergraduate's program in a single pass, Graham arranged for Mitchell and a small team, under his supervision, to write that compiler. The compiler was eventually known as WATFOR, and was eventually to be used by students at 420 Colleges and Universities around the world.
WATFOR was followed by similar teaching compilers, like WATBOL, for teaching COBOL, and WATIAC for teaching the principles of assembly language programming.
Graham is credited with convincing leading computer manufacturers that it was in their interests to donate equipment to the University, because Waterloo students would then write valuable software for those computers that would make the manufacturers` products more valuable.
A total of $35 million CAD in donated equipment is credited to Graham.
Graham, some of his colleagues, and students and former students of theirs, formed the University spin-off software company Watcom, which was sold to Powersoft in 1994, for $100 million CAD. Powersoft was then acquired by Sybase in 1994 which was subsequently acquired by SAP SE in 2010.
Graham was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, in July 1999, but died of cancer before the formal award ceremony in September 1999. The J.W. Graham Medal for excellence in Computer Science was named in his honor.