George A. Buck spent more than 30 years helping public agencies nationwide use information technology to fight crime.
He died Sunday at his El Dorado Hills home of complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to his daughter Christina Schwam and a news release by SEARCH Group Inc., a national nonprofit organization he helped establish. He was 67.
Mr. Buck helped influence national policy to protect people's privacy rights while enhancing law enforcement work, said Ron Hawley, SEARCH's executive director.
In 1969, Mr. Buck was the first employee of the federally funded Project SEARCH to test the feasibility of automated transfer of criminal records across state lines, said Gary Cooper, former SEARCH executive director.
Research done by Mr. Buck and others allowed law enforcement agents to gain speedier and more comprehensive access to criminal history records, colleagues said.
"He's one of the leaders in the development of the national criminal history information system as we know it today," said Cooper, a longtime friend and neighbor of Mr. Buck.
He said Mr. Buck was involved in 1972 in the first test that sent fingerprint images across the country via satellite.
In 1974, Mr. Buck helped found SEARCH Group, now an independent 50-state nonprofit membership organization with its headquarters in Sacramento.
He served in many capacities there, including deputy director for programs and later as deputy executive director for administration and finance. He retired in 2003.
"He always looked at himself as fulfilling a public service role," said Schwam, his younger daughter.
Schwam described her father as warm, loving and dedicated to his family. She said he became a surrogate father to one of her friends, Artie Huff, now a sports agent.
Huff said he was a troubled teenager who lacked a stable family and guidance. Mr. Buck bought him his first pair of running shoes and sparked an interest in track and field, which led him to the University of Arkansas.
"Without George, I wouldn't be anything that I am right now," Huff said. "He's a rock."
Schwam said her father, an athlete himself, coached shot put, softball and soccer.
"He never missed a game," Schwam said of the soccer games she and her sister played.
George Buck was born in 1941 in Oklahoma to a farmer and a teacher-classic pianist. He moved to California when he was 4 years old and grew up in the Bay Area.
He had a brief civilian career with the Los Angeles Police Department after he graduated from college.
In the last few years of his life, despite his failing health, Mr. Buck traveled through Central America, something that he had always wanted to do, Schwam said.
Call The Bee's Chelsea Phua, (916) 321-1132.
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