PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 1996--David Packard,
co-founder and chairman emeritus of Hewlett-Packard Company and one of the
United States' foremost business leaders and philanthropists, died today at
Stanford University Hospital. He was 83.
Packard had been hospitalized since Saturday, March 16, and was being
treated for pneumonia and complications. His children were at his bedside
when he died at 11:05 a.m. PST.
A pioneering influence on today's global electronics industry and on modern
management practices, Packard made significant contributions in
international business and government during his storied half-century
career. The electronics company that he founded with William Hewlett in 1939
in a garage in Palo Alto today is a multinational enterprise with more than
100,000 employees and fiscal 1995 revenue of $31.5 billion. The company
frequently is cited for excellence in personnel practices, business
management, product quality and service -- all legacies of Packard's
influence.
Packard served as HP's president or chairman of the board from the date of
the company's incorporation in 1947 until his retirement in 1993. He took a
leave of absence from 1969 to 1971 to serve as Deputy Secretary of the U.S.
Defense Department during the first Nixon administration.
At the time of his death, Packard held 9.1 percent of HP shares outstanding,
or 46.6 million shares. Packard previously had announced his intention to
transfer all HP shares from his estate to the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation upon his death.
HP does not expect that any shares will need to be sold to pay estate taxes.
In addition, the company anticipates no significant selling of shares by
the Packard family or foundation. Thus, the transfer of Packard's shares
should not result in any disruption of HP's operations or in any significant
change in control.
Packard was born Sept. 7, 1912, in Pueblo, Colo., where his father was an
attorney. As a student at Stanford University, he distinguished himself as
a student and athlete. A rangy 6'5", he set records in track as a freshman
and later received varsity letters in football and basketball.
His boyhood interest in electricity and science attracted him to the
emerging field of radio engineering, taught by Stanford University Professor
Frederick E. Terman, a noted authority. Packard became friends with a
fellow engineering student, Bill Hewlett, and they made plans on a Colorado
climbing trip to go into business together someday. In 1934, Packard
received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi academic honoraries.
After some months of graduate study at the University of Colorado, Packard
took a job with General Electric Co. in Schenectady, N.Y. In April 1938, he
married Lucile Salter of San Francisco, whom he had met at Stanford. Later
that year, at the urging of Terman and despite the country's continuing
economic depression, Packard took a leave from his job and returned to
Stanford on a fellowship.
During this time, Packard renewed his friendship with Hewlett, who also had
returned to Stanford to pursue graduate studies in electrical engineering.
In early 1939, with $538 in capital, the two founded HP while completing
work on their master of science degrees. They began producing an innovative
audio oscillator in Packard's garage. The oscillator, designed by Hewlett,
improved engineers' ability to develop and test sound systems. One of the
fledgling company's first orders was from Walt Disney Studios, which used
eight HP oscillators in developing the sound track for the movie "Fantasia."
Packard managed the company through World War II while Hewlett served in the
U.S. Army as a Signal Corps officer. Although HP had many opportunities to
accept short-term business contracts from the government during the war
years, Hewlett and Packard made a lasting decision not to make HP a
"hire-and-fire" operation. In the early 1940s, Packard and Hewlett took
other steps to build a loyal, dedicated work force and instituted a cash
profit-sharing program for all employees, which continues today.
In 1947, shortly after Hewlett's return from the Army, the company was
incorporated, and Packard was named president. In 1957, the company made
its initial stock offering to the public. Both Packard and Hewlett held
sizable portions of HP common stock from then on. Subsequently, an employee
stock-purchase plan was created which enabled HP workers to purchase shares
in the company at a discount, keeping in line with the founders' attitude
toward employee well-being.
In 1964, Packard was elected chairman of the board and chief executive
officer, and Hewlett was named president. Packard held those positions
until 1969, when he resigned to become U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense
within the first Nixon administration. He returned to the company late in
1971 and was re-elected chairman in January 1972. After 1977, when he
turned 65, Packard reduced his involvement in the daily workings of the
company but remained board chairman until he retired on Sept. 17, 1993.
Throughout his HP career, Packard teamed with Hewlett to develop a number of
innovative employment and management techniques now widely emulated in the
business world. Catastrophic medical coverage, flexible work hours, open
offices, decentralized decision-making, management by objective and employee
"coffee talks" are among the many policies and practices they introduced into
their company. The resulting culture, called the "HP Way," is recognized
as one of the strongest and most resilient in the business world today.
As a leader in the electronics industry, Packard was known for expressing
his opinions in direct, pragmatic terms. He was an outspoken proponent of
engineering education, a critic of unbalanced U.S.-Japan trade and a
supporter of greater trade with East Bloc nations as the best way to
establish lasting world peace. He frequently traveled to Washington, often
on presidential or cabinet-level invitation, to serve on special government
commissions, to exchange views with elected officials or to testify at
government hearings.
In addition to building HP, Packard was active in a number of business,
educational, professional and civic organizations throughout his life.
Packard, his late wife Lucile and their four children personally directed
the development of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif. The
aquarium, a $55 million philanthropic project of the Packard family, has
attracted millions of visitors to the Central California coast. Packard
himself designed and built some of the wave-generating equipment in his
workshop.
During his career, Packard served as a director of the Boeing Co.,
Caterpillar Tractor Co., Chevron Corp. and Genentech Inc. At the time of
his death, he was a director of Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic.
Packard was active in the Business Roundtable and was founding vice chairman
of the California Roundtable. He was named one of the top 10 business
heroes in a 1986 Wall Street Journal poll of corporate chief executive
officers. He served as vice chairman of The Atlantic Council and was a
member of the board of overseers of the Hoover Institution.
He was vice chairman of the California Nature Conservancy, and a director of
the Wolf Trap Foundation, Vienna, Va., an organization devoted to the
performing arts.
Packard was a member of the White House Science Council, a fellow of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a member of the National
Academy of Engineering and a lifetime member of the Instrument Society of
America. He was a co-founder and past chairman of the American Electronics
Association. He was a member of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade & Economic
Council's committee on science and technology from 1975 to 1982 and a
director of the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation from 1985 to 1987. He
also chaired the U.S.-Japan Advisory Commission from 1983 to 1985. He
served as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology from 1990 to 1992.
Packard was a member of The Trilateral Commission from 1973 to 1981, and
from 1985 to 1986 chaired a presidential commission to study management in
the U.S. Department of Defense.
Packard was a trustee of Stanford University from 1954 to 1969 and was
president of the university's board of trustees from 1958 to 1960. He
served on the Palo Alto School Board from 1947 to 1956. He was a past member
of the governing boards of the National Merit Scholarship Corp., the
Universities Research Association, the Institute for Educational Affairs and
Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International). At the time of his
death, he was a trustee of the Herbert Hoover Foundation, the American
Enterprise Institute and The Hoover Institution.
Packard was an avid outdoorsman. He liked to hunt and fish, and, along with
Hewlett, owned extensive cattle-ranching operations in California and Idaho.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation was founded in 1964 to direct
Packard's considerable interest in philanthropic activities. Through it,
the Packards supported and made extensive donations to scientific research,
community organizations, education, health care, conservation, population
projects and the arts totaling $461 million.
Among the grants made by the Foundation are $120 million for the Monterey
Bay Aquarium Research Institute (in addition to the $55 million personal
donation Packard gave to start the aquarium); $70 million for a nationwide
program of science and engineering research fellowships; and $10 million to
historically black colleges and universities for scholarships in science and
mathematics.
Over the years, Hewlett and Packard made personal donations of more than
$300 million to Stanford University. They contributed $77.4 million in
October 1994 for the completion of a state-of-the-art science and
engineering complex. Earlier in 1994, each gave $12.5 million for the
establishment of a Frederick Terman Fellowship.
In 1986, the Packards made a personal $40 million "cornerstone" pledge for
the construction of the Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital, which
opened in June 1991. At the same time, they donated $30 million to Stanford
University and the School of Medicine to modernize perinatal facilities and
pediatric research laboratories. The Packards made an additional $25
million donation to the university in 1993 to advance knowledge in
pediatrics and expand clinical services for children.
Packard is survived by his four children, David Woodley Packard, Nancy Ann
Packard Burnett, Susan Packard Orr, and Julie Elizabeth Packard. Lucile
Packard died in 1987.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Hewlett-Packard Company is a global manufacturer of computing,
communications and measurement products and services recognized for
excellence in quality and support. HP employs 105,200 people worldwide and
had revenues of $31.5 billion in its 1995 fiscal year.
CONTACT:
Hewlett-Packard Company, San Francisco
Marlene Somsak, 415/857-6805
David J. Bouffard, 415/857-2367
Mary Lou Simmermacher, 415/857-7794
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED
MAR 26,1996
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