Bob and Joy Schwabach

Bob Schwabach

Bob Schwabach was born and bred in Chicago, Ill., a place he describes as "a city of bad public schools and great museums and libraries, which is where education is actually to be gained."

His undergraduate studies were at the University of Chicago and graduate studies in the history of science and technology at the State University of New York, Cooperstown, and the University of Delaware.

Following graduate school, he became a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., and from there went on to The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News and the Chicago Tribune.

The computer column was begun 23 years ago and has run continuously every week since then; it is the longest-established such column in the world. The column was initially carried by the Knight-Ridder News Service and has been distributed by Universal Press Syndicate since 1984.

Schwabach has written two books on using the computer to analyze the stock market: The Dow Jones-Irwin Guide to Investment Software and the Business Week Guide to Global Investments Using Electronic Tools.

He has also served as director of technical communications at Argonne National Laboratory (site of the initial work on the atomic bomb), has designed telephone switching systems for AT&T, excavated a Carthaginian city in Morocco, ridden a camel caravan across the Sahara to Timbuktu, and worked in a metallurgy lab on titanium alloys. He dove for sunken Roman warships in the harbor of Tangiers and briefly studied architecture with Mies van der Rohe.

He and his wife Joy, who is also co-author of "On Computers," live in Evanston, Ill.

Joy Anthony Schwabach

Joy Anthony Schwabach grew up in Newport Beach, California. She has a degree in economics from Cal State University, Long Beach, and studied computer science at the University of Southern California. She began her journalism career at the Daily Pilot, a suburban newspaper owned by the Los Angeles Times. She wrote numerous business stories along with a weekly column, "The American Dream."

In 1985, Joy helped syndicated columnist Donald Lambro write "Land of Opportunity," published by Little Brown. She has contributed numerous pieces to The Orange County Register, National Review and other publications. In the 1990s, she served as press aide to a California state assemblyman. She met her future husband, Bob Schwabach, while working in public relations.

For more information about the Schwabachs and their work, please go to www.oncomp.com.