Robert G. Prisching, 76, of Palatine and Merrimac, Wis., started working with computers when they needed 15- and 20-inch tape reels. He stayed with them for almost 25 years with Natural Gas Pipeline Co. and then for another 10 years with the former Peoples Gas Light and Coke Co. in Chicago.
Mr. Prisching, who enjoyed fishing, retired early, in 1981, as director of computer operations for what is now Peoples Energy Co.
Mr. Prisching, a Chicago native, died Sunday, Feb. 18, in his Palatine home.
He previously had been a computer programmer with Natural Gas Pipeline Co. in Chicago.
“He was in charge of the equipment and personnel in the computer room,” said Marsha Fessett, secretary to Mr. Prisching from 1976 until his retirement. “He also worked with sending out the bills.
“He was helpful, thoughtful. He was a lot of fun. I enjoyed working for him. He had a gruff exterior, but I got to know the nice guy inside,” Fessett said.
Mr. Prisching served with the 443rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion of the 7th Army’s 36th Division in North Africa, France, Italy and Germany during World War II.
“He crossed the Rhine into Germany with [Gen. George S.] Patton toward the end of the war,” said his son Jim, a Tribune photographer. “He was involved in the liberation of Auschwitz.”
After World War II, Mr. Prisching attended Loyola University Chicago, where he studied computer programming on the G.I. Bill.
“When he first came out of the service, he worked for a while with his father [the late George R.], who was a cabinetmaker and a master carpenter from Austria,” said his son. “He cut his hand and decided later to study computers.”
He also was a photography buff. “He shot a lot of war pictures of the destruction in Germany. He got me started in it,” said his son. “He bought darkroom equipment for me.”
Mr. Prisching was a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3579, Park Ridge. During the 1980s, he served as president of Park Ridge-based Northland Sportsmen’s Fishing Club.
“He retired early,” said his son. “He loved to be out on a boat with a beer in one hand and a fishing pole in the other.”
Survivors include another son, Robert S.; a daughter, Susan; two brothers, George and Richard; and five grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 185 E. Northwest Highway, Palatine. A service will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday in the funeral home.
