39a. bill corum

8/3/2019 39A. Bill Corum

1/7

H.I.S.-tory by Vince Ciotti

2011 H.I.S. Professionals, LLC

Episode 39A:

R.I.P:Bill Corum

VP McAuto


2/7

Sad Day in HIS-tory

Received very sad new this week that Bill Corum,

VP at McDonnell-Douglas Automation Company,passed away at his CA home on January 11.

So were interrupting our story on micro vendor

HMDS to pay tribute to this truly wonderful man

who left an amazing footprint in our industry. Computerworld ran this brief notice on the

right about Bill making VP way back in June of

1981, during my brief stint at McAutos HSD. Bill

started there in 1957 (thats 30 years with the

same HIS vendor!) as an engineering draftsman

and then advanced to Deputy Director of

Computer Ops in 69. He became Manager of

Tech Services in 71, the year HSD was formed.

He held an MBA from California State College.


3/7

Vice President at McAutos HSD Contributing author to

this textbook, Billspromotion to VP at

McAuto was amazing:

Chuck Barlow was the

only other VP there, asthe parent airplane firm

had hundreds of VPs and

was loath to let out too

many titles to such a small

subsidiary as HSD...

When Chuck took ill in

81, Bill became the

interim exec, and led the

firm until Chicks recovery


4/7

Truly a Class Act! When I went to McAuto from SMS in 1980, Bill immediately

impressed me as a really unique individual in the HIS world: Veryintelligent easily one of the smartest and most

knowledgeable of the dozens of executives at SMS & McAuto.

Great Leader his troops would follow him off the proverbial

cliff whenever he led a new program or special project. Hard Working part of the Saturday Club which at SMS &

McAuto was a small group of fools who worked Sat. AM

Nice Guy considering the dog-eat-dog corporate vendor

world, Bill never had anything bad to say about anybody

His door was always open, he listened to anyones problems, and

always offered honest and usually spot-on advice on issues...

He car-pooled with Art Randall in a beat-up old Chevy II from

their homes in Chesterfield, MO, which he drove as hard as he

drove his troops! I could barely keep up with him in my Porsche


5/7

Later Years When McDonnell-Douglas finally put McAutos HSD up for sale in

the late 80s, it was acquired by Systems Associates Inc (SAI), whichhad been acquired by American Express/First Data Corporation.

Bill left McAuto after over 30 years of loyal service, and joined

another HIS-tory hero, Dick Schopp, who you may remember from

an earlier HIS-tory installment on HIS Inc. in Brooklyn, NY.

Dick was an early sales maven at McAuto who sold scores of

hospitals on HFC before joining me at HIS Inc., where he sold several

hospitals on a system that didnt exist at the time!

De rigueurtoday, but an amazing feat in the 80s

When Dick left HIS Inc, he formed a consulting firm

called Healthcare Computing Strategies (HCS) and

Bill Corum, his old friend from McAuto, joined Dick

as VP and together they grew the firm to over 100

employees and $10M in annual revenues by Y2K.


6/7

Last Gig Together

Bill was so sharp that when Y2K threatened, we sub-contracted him

for one of our gigs at Brazosport Hospital in south Texas in 1998.

Bill and I had a big date with their Meditech reps one day to review

Y2K preparedness, when a Tropical Storm blew in from Galveston.

Shades of the 1915 hurricane, the Meditech reps had the sense to

cancel before getting stranded down those low-lying flood plains Bill & I on the other hand, ever eager for work (and a billable day!)

sloughed through the storm and met at the Holiday Inn in

Brazosport, having to literally wade through water in the lobby!

Ever the consummate professional, Bill tookhis laptop into the hospital the next day and

started his inventory of PCs while the winds

howled outside! I left town early afraid of

getting stranded, while Bill kept working until

he got all the data needed for his report...


7/7

Requiescat in pace Bill retired from HCS in the mid-2000s, and suffered a number of

health problems but, in his loving wife Ellens words: ..he onceagain bounced back. I couldnt tell you if he felt as goodas he looked and acted or whether it was that positiveattitude of Bills shining through. In our house of yinand yang, he was the energetic, up-beat one always. For

over 56 years I relied on him to keep me lifted up. Bill met Ellen when they were 15, and she has taken over the email

account that Bill set up and welcomes notes, so if anyone out there

who has other reminiscences about Bill, feel free to email her at:

[email protected]

Or send her a card at:

Ellen Corum

12420 Patricia Drive

Cerritos, CA 90703

39a. bill corum

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