Sylvian Richard Ray, 76 of Urbana died at 9:25 a.m. Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at home.

Memorial services will be held at a later date. Burial will be at Mt. Hope Cemetery, Champaign. Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Ray was born on August 26, 1931 in Kingsville, Louisiana, the son of Leland Ray and Agnes Edwards Ray. He married Emily Belleff of August 22, 1959 in Champaign, she survives.

Also surviving are two sons; Dr. Tane Stefan (Suzette) Ray of Barbados and Leland Edward Ray of Sausalito, California, one brother, Malcolm Ray of Alaska, and two sisters; Gloria Jordan of Texas and Patricia Knobel of New Mexico.

He was preceded in death by one brother.

Mr. Ray formerly worked for Camellia Broadcasting Co. in Lafayette, LA, Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC and the Ballistics Research Lab in Aberdeen, MD.

He was a Research Assistant at the University from February 1956 - August 1961, a Research Associate from September 1961 - August 1962, Research Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Research Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.

Mr. Ray was a Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of Illinois.

Ray's primary research focus was on signal interpretation, particularly those of biomedical origin. His research into the subject used a variety of techniques, such as system rule-based techniques and connectionist (neural network) methods. His group developed a system which accepts the multichannel signals originating from a sleeping human subject and produces a diagnosis including a number of abnormal conditions. Ray was the author of the text Data Acquisition & Digital Signal Processing.

Ray's research interests have always been known for their diversity. The recent research work of Ray and his students has spanned language evolution and convergence issues, cumulative learning, a new approach measuring task relatedness using a Kolmogorov complexity based Transfer Learning method, and development of a self-aiming camera built to perform audio-visual sensor fusion in the manner of the deep superior colliculus (DSC) region of the brain. In his early career, Ray was involved in hardware related research. He was a primary researcher on the ILLIAC III system, a fine-grained SIMD pattern recognition computer built by the University of Illinois in 1966.

"Sylvian Ray's long and distinguished career spanned almost the entire digital computer era. From his pioneering work on the hardware design of the early ILLIAC machines to his most recent research on neural networks, which continued beyond his retirement, Sylvian was a dynamic presence in our department who will be missed by his many friends and colleagues," said Michael Heath, interim head of department and Fulton Watson Copp Chair in computer science.

Ray is remembered by his graduate students and former students as a kind, patient, and generous mentor. He was the recipient of several awards for his mentorship and advising during his tenure.

"He was always positive," said former PhD student Kiran Lakkaraju. "He was always supportive of our efforts and our efforts to tackle new issues that were challenging. He knew so much from so many different areas, from the rudiments of signal processing to more cognitive and social aspects of artificial intelligence."

Former student PhD Samarth Swarup said, "His wisdom and kindness will remain an inspiration to me. He has shaped my own interests, given me a broad curiosity, and taught me (and many others) to do research."

Ray received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Illinois in 1961 under the guidance of James Robertson. His PhD thesis was entitled "Engineering Model of a Partial Switching Effect in Ferrite Cores".

He was a member of the Church Universal and Triumphant, and was currently affiliated with Spiritual Awareness Fellowship of Lombard.

Mr. Ray was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean Conflict.

Condolences may be offered at www.renner-wikoffchapel.com.