Joseph Martin Gerhardt

January 11, 1959 - January 5, 2022

Joe was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Louis and Freida Gerhardt. He was a brother to Alan and David. He grew up in Austin and attended Agudas Achim and was active in USY and Young Judea. Joe excelled in academics and was acing math courses at the University of Texas while still a high school student at Austin High School. He attended MIT where he graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering. While at MIT he was a member of the Zamir Chorale Group and sang with them at concerts around the US. After college he worked at IBM's Watson Research Center working on a number of projects including semiconductor testing, speech recognition, and computer system development. He later returned to Austin to continue working at IBM. Joe was passionate about music and continued to perform after moving back to Texas. After retiring, he was very involved in caring for his parents, enabling them to stay in their home as they grew older. Throughout his life he maintained strong Jewish values, kept kosher and honored the Shabbat and Holidays. He was an avid explorer of Jewish philosophy. Joe was smart, witty, insightful, multi-talented and caring. He was greatly loved by family and friends and especially his nieces and nephews with whom he spent many an hour singing, playing games and teaching them many things from math to juggling. For those wishing to honor Joe's memory, donations can be made to Chabad of Austin or Charity of your choice.