In Memoriam: Neil F. Duane (1940-2004)

Neil Duane was president and founder of AccessBooks Limited, a developer of self-voicing electronic textbooks and documents for blind and low-vision readers, and consultant to the Royal National Institute for the Blind in the United Kingdom and the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Mr. Duane was also the Technical Communications Program Consultant and Advisor to Northeastern University for Part-Time Undergraduate Degree and Professional Development Programs, and a member of the University College faculty. He was also instrumental in staffing and implementing the Technical Writing Certificate Program through the Northeastern University Online & Distance Learning program (http://www.cps.neu.edu/online).

Other educational posts included the Bentley College Technical Writing Advisory Board, Technical Communications Consultant to the Women's Technical Institute, and appointments to the faculties of Boston University and Suffolk University.

Before founding Boston Documentation Design, Inc. in 1983, he was technical writing manager of Hewlett-Packard's Medical Products Group and Hospital Information Systems Technical Documentation Manager.

He served on the executive board of the Society of Documentation Professionals, was a member of the Massachusetts Software Council, the Association for Computing Machinery, and was past president and member of the Executive Council of the New England Chapter of the American Medical Writers Association.

Neil was an invited speaker and panelist for the Society for Technical Communication (STC), the Association for Computing Machinery, the Society of Documentation Professionals, the American Medical Writers Association, and Northeastern University's Tech Expo.

Neil Duane held a Master of Science in Science Communication from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing Communication from Suffolk University. He was also the author of several technical communication and educational publications.