Willis H. Ware was born in Atlantic City, N.J., on 31 August 1920. He received the B.S. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1941, and the S.M. degree in 1942 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the was a Tau Beta Pi Fellow.
From 1942 to 1946 he was employed by the Hazeltine Electronics Corporation for research and development in radar and IFF. In 1946 he became one of the original members of the staff of the Electronic Computer Project at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J. There he worked on the design and development of the large scale general purpose electronic digital computer which was later to set the pattern for the construction of serveral other "Princeton class machines." At the same time he continued his graudate work at Princeton University, from which he received the Ph.D. degree in 1951. In 1952, Dr. Ware joined the RAND Corporation, where he is continuing his work with digital machines.
Dr. Ware has held several national and local offices in the PGEC. He is National Chairman for 1958–1959 and has held posts as National Vice Chairman, 1957–1958; National Secretary-Treasurer, 1954–1955; National Chairman of the Student Activities Committee, 1956–1957; Chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter, 1954–1955; Treasurer of the Los Angeles Chapter, 1953–1954. He also has been a member of IRE Technical Committees 8.4 and 8.5 (computer definitions) from 1948 to the present time, and served as Chairman of Committee 8.5 from 1951–1958.
Conference Chairman of the 1958 Western Joint Comptuer Conference, Dr. Ware has served as a member of the IRE national Ad Hoc Committee to review Profssional Group Finances. He was member of the Technical Program Committee of the International Conference on Information Processing. In 1957, he was Finance Chaiman of the Western Joint Comptuer Conference and also the Professonal Groups Coordinator of the Los Angels Section. In 1956 he was the alternate Chairman of the Technical Program Committee of WESCON.
Dr. Ware was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu, Pi Mu Epsilon, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Ware passed away on 22 November 2013, aged 93 at his home in Santa Monica. Dr. Ware is survived by two daughters, Deborah and Alison, son David, and their spouses, Edwin Pinson, Thomas Manoli, and Astrid Erling, and granddaughters Arielle and Victoria Manoli.
