Neil Michelsen

American entrepreneur who developed programs for astrological computations in his spare time while working for IBM for 17 years. In 1973 he founded ACS, Astro-Computing Service., a creation which melded together his two lifelong interests, metaphysics and computers. As ACS became the leading source of computerized calculations for astrologers, a publishing division was added and the name was legally changed to Astro-Communications-Services in 1990. Michelsen was the recipient of the Marc Edmund Jones award, a co-founder of UAC, and chairman of NCGR. In September 1984, at the time of community rebellion to AFA policies, he became a focus figure with his disbarment from AFA. He had two marriages and divorces with a total of five kids when he made a third marriage, on 2 October 1978, to Maria Kay Simms. In May 1989, Michelsen had back pain that was not relieved by chiropractic adjustments. He felt fine and fit with no other symptoms of the cancer that had spread throughout his bone structure, that was diagnosed the following month. With hormonal injections, a new treatment that had about a 40% success record in the past ten years in Europe, he went into remission for about six months. By December 1989 the cancer began to mutate and he no longer responded to the treatment. During early 1990, diet and alternate healing methods failed to have the desired result, and he died on 15 May 1990, San Diego, CA. Michelsen left a major legacy to astrology in programming and publishing the first computer-generated ephemeris in 1976, the first of the widely used American Ephemeris series, setting new standards for accuracy. At the 1992 UAC Regulus Awards he was posthumously awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award.