Duncan Lawrie, 81, died in the comfort of his home on Nov. 26, 2024. He died after over 30 years battling arterial sclerosis, diabetes and PXE. He grew up in South Chicago and spent most of his life in the Midwest and on airplanes. The highlight of his life was marrying the love of his life, Linda Zapf, in 1974.
He was an emeritus professor of computer science and head of the department at the University of Illinois Urbana campus. His area of interest was supercomputer software and architecture. Dr. Lawrie served on numerous advisory committees, mostly in the government, and was elected president of the IEEE Computer Society, the world’s largest and oldest organization for computer professionals. He also started two companies, DHL Consulting LLC and Fort Lawrie Technical Services. He was well known as a conservative and asked once if he would accept a blood transfusion, his reply was “only from conservative donors.” After “retiring” to Pagosa, he was an active volunteer for the Humane Society of Pagosa Springs, the Colorado Mounted Rangers and the San Juan Mounted Patrol. He was also a volunteer with the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office, serving for many years with Search and Rescue and the Incident Management Group, and was a special deputy. He believes everyone should have firearm safety training and was an NRA firearms instructor and chief range safety officer. He also enjoyed amateur radio and earned the highest amateur license, “Extra” (K1DHL).
He was predeceased by his parents and several dogs: Oliver, Stanley, Kukla, Willsie, Harry, Bodie, Harley, Jack, Reggie and Roxie. He is survived by his wife, Linda; brother, Jud; his dogs, Finn and Oakley; many friends; and nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Jude or Shriners.
