Richard Northouse, both an alumnus and a former faculty member in the early years of the college, passed away on May 19 at his home in Mequon at the age of 87.
Northouse earned his master’s degree from UWM in 1968, and his PhD at Purdue University in electrical engineering. He taught electrical engineering at UWM from 1971-75 before starting his own software company, Compco Computers in 1985. He later sold the business and went back to teaching.
When Northouse arrived in the department, he and George Steber, associate professor emerit, electrical engineering & computer science, had adjacent labs on the 7th floor for many years and shared equipment, Steber remembered.
“He was a very friendly man, well known in the college by colleagues in all the departments,” Steber said. “He liked to socialize and became friends with many, including students who he would have an occasional beer with at the old UWM Union Gasthaus.”
Born in Lanesboro, Minn., Northouse attended Milwaukee Boys Tech high school.