Obituary of Joey Keith Tuttle

Joey Keith Tuttle passed away Monday, February 26, 2024, in Santa Cruz, California, at the age of 81 years old. He was born in Corvallis, Oregon on April 29, 1942, the only son of Mabel Angeline (Flowers) and Christopher Columbus Tuttle Jr. 

Joey is survived by three daughters, Cheri Tuttle (James) Callis of Castroville, Heather McKenna of Sutter Creek, and Michelle Tuttle of Santa Cruz, Calif. He is also survived by grandchildren Hannah Flock and Calvin McKenna. He is preceded in death by his son, Mark Tuttle and his parents Mabel and Columbus Tuttle. 

Joey grew up in Houston, Missouri and lived in the apartment attached to his parent’s business, Tuttle Utility Gas. He graduated Houston High School in 1960 and married his high school sweetheart Stella Pauline Markunas. In High School he was an outstanding science student and Science Club Officer, He was also part of the marching band and orchestra playing the trumpet. Joey and Stella moved to Rolla, MO where he attended Missouri University of Science and Technology and earned his BS and MS of EE in Physics. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Pi Sigma. His thesis subject concerning atmospheric radiation transfer in/near pollution was a bit ahead of its time. His interests always gravitated towards science, and he started with IBM even before graduating from college. At IBM he was a Senior Engineer and Member of IBM Yorktown Research APL group. 

He worked with IBM until 1977 and moved many times across the country with the APL group. Cheri and Michelle were born in Longmont, CO, and his son who unfortunately died as an infant was born in Pennsylvania. The APL group eventually moved to Palo Alto, CA where his daughter Heather was born. He joined I.P. Sharp in 1977 and was Vice President of Development and Operations. IP Sharp was acquired by Reuters, and he became the VP of Technology/Research/Development/Operations. Most of his work involved the computer language APL, and he even worked to design a font for the language. His work took him to many places around the world and he worked with many people involved in the development of computers and the internet. He always enjoyed working on a mathematics puzzle or programming challenge and led many fellow engineers on multiple projects and held numerous patents. He moved on from Reuters to Fax Focus/Magnacom as CTO and founding partner., and then was CIO of Marketmaker Capital. He volunteered with the local SCORE group, freely giving his time to local businesses who needed technology advice. He helped at Porter Memorial Library as technical support. 

He became a resident of Aptos in 1992. He had many friends locally and he enjoyed attending music concerts, plays, and lectures particularly at the Computer History Museum or The Long Now. He became a member of UUFSCC in November 2018 and was on the Tech Committee as the Fellowship endeavored to stay connected and active through the pandemic. He was always ready to meet someone over a cup of coffee or lunch. He became a resident of Brookdale Senior Community in July 2022 after a number of health complications but was active and cheerful with his new friends and neighbors. He served as VP and then President of the Brookdale Residents Association. 

A service will be held at 10 am Saturday, March 9th at Benito & Azzaro Pacific Gardens Chapel. 

Memorial contributions can be made in Joey’s name to The Computer History Museum, https://chm.secure.nonprofitsoapbox.com/donate  or The Porter Library, 3050 Porter Street, Soquel, CA  95073, 831-475-3326 or to a charity of your choice.