Irwin Isaac Boris

Irwin "Isaac" Boris

 was born in 1935 in Dorchester, MA, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Sadie, a pieceworker, and Abe, an upholsterer by trade who owned a furniture store. They spoke Yiddish at home and Irwin didn't learn English until the age of 5. He attended Boston Latin and then Harvard University, graduating in 1953. He was involved in early Fortran, leading a team at Honeywell to run the new programming language on their mainframes. There, he met Rita, a shiksa from Minnesota, and his direct report. In the first of a series of risky but highly successful moves, he married her. He pursued a doctorate in economics at MIT and completed all the coursework. He worked at NASA for a short time and in 1969 he returned to Honeywell and moved with Rita and his daughters, Ann and Jennifer, to the Twin Cities, where he would spend the rest of his life. He ended his career traveling back and forth to Paris working for the French division of Honeywell. He loved singing, Chinese food, Beethoven, Albert Camus, and Larry Bird. He spent much of his time reading about religion. Irwin was a life master bridge player and competed in tournaments with many of the game's greats. He was never the best-dressed man in the room, but when he got up to give a talk he captured everyone. Post-retirement, he taught through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and his classes were notoriously packed. 

He was preceded in death by his mother and father; his brother, Stanley ("Mick"); and his oldest grandchild, Andrew Bauer. Mourned by his daughters Ann (John) Gateley and Jennifer (Matthew) Schulte; grandchildren Maxwell Bauer, McKenna (Dylan) Schulte, Elena Bauer, and Samantha Schulte. But mostly and forever by Rita, once his employee, whom he called "the boss" for the next 60+ years. 

Celebration of life to be held on June 13th 1:30-4 PM at 15820 Seaton Place Minnetonka, Minnesota.