Engineer Jack Calaway passed away in November.
Calaway, familiar to broadcasters and other engineers in the West and Northwest, died unexpectedly in his home in Corvallis, Ore.
“Jack worked for the past 25 years as a software engineer specializing in the television postproduction industries,” according to an obituary provided by colleague Tom Werner of Southern Oregon Public Television to RW.
“Many consider Jack as the father of PC-based desktop editing based on his design and marketing of the Calaway editing system in the early 1980s. Jack also designed VTR interfaces that were employed in many CMX-based editing systems.
“Jack was also well known for providing very useful free-ware computer programs. This software provided utilities for TV post-production including solutions to interoperability issues between various computer operating systems.”
He also worked in TV post-production in Hollywood, including stints with Technicolor-Vidtronics and Trans American Video.
Calaway also did pro bono work for nonprofits and “was a key participant in the move of Channel Five Public Broadcasting, Southern Oregon Public television, and was about to participate in the move of KLCC.”
