Walter Shawlee

Walter Shawlee (1949 or 1950 — September 4, 2023) was a renowned American collector of slide rules. He was born in Los Angeles, and attended University of California, Los Angeles to study electronics engineering and mathematics, and left before completing a degree. He first started a company in 1979 at Prince George, British Columbia, Northern Airborne Technology, then later ran an online outlet for vintage electronics, Sphere Research Corporation, in Kelowna, with a section titled "Slide Rule Universe". In 2003, he was reported to make over $100,000 a year on the slide rule trade. Shawlee’s mother, actress Joan Shawlee, was best known for playing bandleader Sweet Sue in the Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot, where she worked with stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. She also played “Pickles” Sorrell in The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Walter Shawlee
Born	1949 or 1950 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	(2023-09-04)September 4, 2023 (aged 73)
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Known for	Slide rule collecting

Shawlee died of cancer on September 4, 2023, at the age of 73.

References

Sources

• Traub, Alex (February 8, 2024). "Walter Shawlee, the Sovereign of Slide Rules, Is Dead at 73". The New York Times.
• Backhouse, Frances (November 1, 2007), "The Retailer of the Lost Electronics Ark – Shopping for a used oscilloscope or a rare spare vacuum tube? Walter Shawlee II's online warehouse may be the place to go", IEEE Spectrum
• Tam, Pui-Wing (February 18, 2003). "Calculating Collector Scours Globe Hunting for Slide Rules". The Wall Street Journal.
• Johansen, Nicholas (February 11, 2024). "Kelowna slide-rule enthusiast featured in New York Times article – 'SOVEREIGN OF SLIDE RULES'". castanet.net. Kelowna, British Columbia: Castanet Media.

Further reading

• Austen, Ian (June 17, 1999). "Slide Rules Tap Into Nostalgia Of the Pocket Protector Crowd". The New York Times.

External links

• Slide Rule Universe at the Wayback Machine (archived 2023-09-02)