Business
In my half-century in business, I have worked for big companies like General Motors and Siemens, and small companies with forgotten names. I have worked for progressive companies like Intel, and backward companies like Timex. I have worked for semiconductor companies, manufacturing companies, and companies that never should have become companies in the first place. I have founded my own companies, managed other people’s companies, financed companies, and liquidated companies. I have developed consumer products, industrial products, medical electronic products, military war-time products, products used in farm fields, and products to go into space.
The anecdotes and reembraces in this section reflect my experience from my early years of designing car radios at General Motors during its hay-day, through a long career in the semiconductor industry, and finally to integrating electronics with optical components to reduce the use of herbicide in agriculture. During the same, more than a half-century of calling Patchen, California my home, I also built a unique and successful retail and wholesale business in the Christmas tree industry.
The table that follows will gradually over time become populated to represent a chronology of what happened – and when. Understanding that it has no particular value to anyone else, it’s a way to help me remember – both the good and the not-so-good.
The stories are real and the opinions are 100% my own, on the advice of my friend Yap Ping Hui in Penang, Malaysia, who often said, “don’t bring me borrowed opinions – speak with data or keep quiet”.
| When | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| 1941 | Plymouth, NC | Born on June 1, and didn't get much done that year. |
| 1942 | ||
| 1943 | Rossmoyne, OH | |
| 1944 | ||
| 1945 | ||
| 1946 | ||
| 1947 | Three Rivers, MI | Life on The Lake |
| 1948 | ||
| 1949 | ||
| 1950 | ||
| 1951 | ||
| 1952 | ||
| 1953 | ||
| 1954 | ||
| 1955 | ||
| 1956 | Started at Miller's Dairy - $0.55 per hr | |
| 1957 | At 16 yrs - got a raise to $0.65 per hr | |
| 1958 | ||
| 1959 | Graduated High School - Probably in the middle of the class - Lost my Year-Book in the fire of 1998 |
|
| 1960 | Angola, IN | Engineering School |
| 1961 | ||
| 1962 | ||
| 1963 | Angola, IN (Business School) Kokomo, IN (Delco Radio) | I went to school in the Midwest, where GM was the biggest employer in those days. So I had two competing offers from GM AC in Milwaukee and Delco Radio in Kokomo (each was for $670/month). I took the Delco one, but if I had gone to AC, I would have been working on the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) that he refers to at 15:15 of the video. It was the same technology used then for ICBMs, and designing radios sounded like more fun than bombing Russians. Remind me to tell you the story about having lunch with Buzz Aldrin. |
| 1964 | ||
| 1965 | Mt View, CA | |
| 1966 | Sunnyvale, CA | |
| 1967 | ||
| 1968 | ||
| 1969 | Santa Cruz Mtns Los Gatos, CA | Integrated Microsystems |
| 1970 | ||
| 1971 | ||
| 1972 | Hytek / Microma | |
| 1973 | Microma | |
| 1974 | ||
| 1975 | ||
| 1976 | Timex | |
| 1977 | ||
| 1978 | ||
| 1979 | Remodeled House | |
| 1980 | Siemens | |
| 1981 | ||
| 1982 | ||
| 1983 | ||
| 1984 | ||
| 1985 | ||
| 1986 | ||
| 1987 | ||
| 1988 | ||
| 1989 | ||
| 1990 | Indala | |
| 1991 | ||
| 1992 | Siemens / Patchen, Inc | |
| 1993 | Patchen, Inc | |
| 1994 | ||
| 1995 | ||
| 1996 | Retired | |
| 1997 | ||
| 1998 | ||
| 1999 | ||
| 2000 | ||
| 2001 | ||
| 2002 | ||
| 2003 | Optoelectronix | |
| 2004 | ||
| 2005 | Retired | |
| 2006 | ||
| 2007 | ||
| 2008 | ||
| 2009 | ||
| 2010 | ||
| 2011 | ||
| 2012 | ||
| 2013 | ||
| 2014 | ||
| 2015 | ||
| 2016 | ||
| 2017 | ||
| 2018 | ||
| 2019 | ||
| 2020 | ||
| 2021 | ||
| 2022 | ||
| 2023 | ||
| 2024 | ||
| 2025 | ||
| 2026 | ||
| 2027 | ||
| 2028 | ||
| 2029 | ||
| 2030 | ||
| 2031 | ||
| 2032 | ||
| 2033 | ||
| 2034 | ||
| 2035 | ||
| 2036 | ||
| 2037 | ||
| 2038 | ||
| 2039 | ||
| 2040 | ||
31 |