Fred Gissoni, K4JLX, died on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. He was 84 years-old.

The following is from an article that was written earlier by Deborah 
Kendrick, for Access World, a publication of the American Foundation 
for the Blind.

Since this is a third or fourth pasting of the information, the links 
at the bottom may not work without some doctoring.

Mike Duke, K5XU

Fred retired from the American Printing House for the Blind in 2011 
after 23 years of service.

        Fred L. Gissoni was 84 years old and lived in the Crescent Hill 
area of Louisville, Kentucky. Fred contributed 60 years of service to 
people who are blind and visually impaired. Fred was known across the 
United States and around the world for his brilliant intellect, 
inventiveness, and impish sense of humor. He was born in New Jersey. 
Blind since birth, he did not, as he told it, go to one of the five 
widely renowned schools for the blind in that area, but rather, to a 
resource room in a public school, first in Garfield, NJ, and later in 
Hackensack. He was interested in amateur radio at age six or seven, and 
that marked the beginning of a lifelong passion for all things 
technical. He passed away Sunday, September 21, 2014.



        In 1956, Fred took a job with a subsection of Kentucky's 
Department of Education. His boss was the legendary Tim Cranmer. 
Gissoni and Cranmer learned the abacus together, and Gissoni wrote 
detailed instructions for its use. That book, Using the Cranmer Abacus, 
is still available from the American Printing House, as is the abacus 
itself. Fred also wrote and taught a course on use of the abacus for 
the Hadley School for the Blind.



        In terms of the technology blind people are using today, what 
stands out most notably in the work of Fred Gissoni would probably be 
the development of the Pocketbraille and Portabraille, collaborations 
of Fred Gissoni and Wayne Thompson, while the two were colleagues at 
the Kentucky Department for the Blind.



        The Pocketbraille was built to be housed in a videocassette box 
(one for a VHS cassette, which was state-of-the-art in the mid 1980s.) 
One could enter data from a Perkins-style keyboard and hear it spoken 
through speech. When Fred learned of a braille display manufacturer in 
Italy, the project grew into a refreshable braille device called 
Portabraille. The Kentucky Department made only 12 Portabraille units 
-- two of which enabled blind people to retain their jobs. Rather than 
making a profit from the machines themselves, Gissoni and Thompson sold 
the detailed instructions for building the device for $5. Deane 
Blazie's interest in those plans, led to the birth of the Braille 'n Speak.



        Fred was particularly proud of the Janus Slate, the 
double-sided interline braille slate that holds a three-by-five index 
card for brailling on both sides. When asked about the name of this 
product, he said, Well, Janus was the Roman God of portals. But I like 
to tell people that he was the Roman God of braille, and since we 
didn't actually have braille for several hundred more years, he didn't 
have much to do. That is vintage Fred Gissoni banter.



        Other inventions he developed for APH were also small items 
including a pocket braille calendar and a gadget he called FoldRite, 
which simplified folding an 8-1/2 by 11 sheet of paper into thirds. 
When asked about his accomplishments, one of the things he mentioned 
his introducing Larry Skutchan to APH.



        Fred always used an abacus and was never without a slate and 
stylus. Batteries die and chips fail, he said simply. On the Fred's 
Head web site, APH refers to him as a legend. He shared his tips, 
techniques, knowledge, genius, and generous spirit with blind people 
everywhere for more than 80 years. Fred's world of knowledge eventually 
became what is now the Fred's Head from APH <http://www.fredshead.info>  blog.



        A memorial service is being planned for the near future. In 
lieu of flowers, contributions are requested to American Printing House 
for the Blind, UCHM for food, or the Crescent Hill United Methodist 
Church. See more and sign his guest book at: 
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/louisville/obituary.aspx?n=fred-l-gissoni&pid=172536773&fhid=10680#sthash.DC1xF6rC.dpuf 
<http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/louisville/obituary.aspx?n=fred-l-gissoni&pid=172536773&fhid=10680#sthash.DC1xF6rC.dpuf> 
.