Philip Harrison Enslow

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by West Point 1955 on October 13, 2022:

ENSLOW JR, Philip Harrison "Phil" Ph.D. Philip Harrison "Phil" Enslow Jr. passed away at the age of 89 on October 10, 2022 after a lengthy illness from complications of Agent Orange exposure. Born on March 2, 1933 in Richmond, VA to Col. Philip Harrison Enslow, US Army (Retired) and Charlotte Coalter Enslow. Phil was the youngest of two children. After a year at Virginia Military Institute in 1951, Phil earned his appointment to the US Military Academy at West Point, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps in 1955. The day after graduation, Phil married Dianne Elizabeth Gormlie, the daughter of Lt. Col. George F. Gormlie, US Army, and Dorothea Louise Webber Gormlie, both of Massachusetts. Phil served his country in Vietnam in 1967-68, where he helped establish one of the early communications networks. For six months he traveled throughout South Vietnam and Thailand ensuring that the network was deployed and handling vital command and control information. For his final six months, Phil was assigned as the Signal Officer of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, known as the "Sky Soldiers", during their very active combat missions in the Central Highlands area near South Vietnam's border with Cambodia and Laos. Early in his career Phil showed an aptitude for electrical engineering, or "Juice" as the EE classes at West Point were known. In 1959 Phil earned his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, then after a year in Korea and another year spent as an instructor in computing at West Point, he returned to Stanford where in 1965 he earned his Ph.D. degree, also in EE. Phil retired from the Army in 1975 as a Lieutenant Colonel, and joined the School of Information and Computer Science (ICS) at the Georgia Institute of Technology, first as an Associate Professor and then in 1978 as a Full Professor. During his time at Georgia Tech, Phil established a comprehensive educational program in telecommunications, and in 1990 helped guide the transformation of ICS into the College of Computing. The major advance by Georgia Tech in creating the CoC was in recognizing "Computing" as a major discipline on the same level as Engineering, Science, etc. In addition to his teaching duties, Phil was very active in recruiting new faculty to the CoC, helping establish Georgia Tech as one of the premier worldwide centers of excellence in Computing and Telecommunications. Phil authored several books during his career, and was one of the founders of the first international journal of computer telecommunications and networking. In 1988 the City of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, awarded Professor Enslow The Blaeu Prize for his role in helping to create international understanding and cooperation in the development of computer communications technologies. Phil retired from Georgia Tech in August 2000 and was appointed a Professor Emeritus. Phil and Dianne loved to travel, and whether it was for one of his international conferences, a vacation with his family, or a trip with his fellow USMA alumni, they were fortunate to experience many different lands and cultures. They often took their daughters on these trips, and later on, the spouses and children as well. Phil was also a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, whose members are descendants of the officers of General George Washington. Phil strongly believed in the mission of the Society (and its sister organization The American Revolution Institute) to educate Americans, particularly school-aged children, on the importance of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States as a catalyst for the movement of liberty and freedom in nations worldwide. Phil was predeceased by his parents, his older sister Charlotte, and his first daughter Dianne Elizabeth "DeDe". He is survived by his wife of 67 years Dianne; daughters Dorothea Bliss Enslow Putnal (Joseph) and Dana Charlotte Enslow Hammock; grandsons Philip James Hammock (Cacilia), Tucker Harrison Hammock, and Randall Coalter Putnal; and two great-grandsons. There will be a funeral service at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, 3110 Ashford-Dunwoody Rd. on Wednesday, October 19 at 12:30 p.m., with a reception to follow immediately afterwards in Gable Hall. At a later date there will be a military service with Honors at Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, where Phil will be interred, joining his daughter DeDe. Donations can be made to the Enslow Endowment for Education, c/o The Society of the Cincinnati, Inc., Anderson House, 2118 Massachusetts Ave., Washington, DC, 20008; or to a cause that is special to you.

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