Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Rodney Smith, was killed Friday in a bicycle accident in Menlo Park. As a sports-car loving executive he built a startup programmable-logic company called Altera into an industry powerhouse and retired four years ago as chairman and CEO of the FPGA company.
Smith, riding his bicycle on Sand Hill Road near the venture capital hub that has helped build the Silicon Valley, was hit by 87-year-old motorist from Woodside around 9:40 a.m. Friday.
Smith was declared dead at the scene from head injuries. Police are investigating the cause of the crash.
Smith joined Altera as chairman and CEO in 1983 at a time when programmable logic was emerging as a business and nearly a dozen competitors were vying for market leadership. A combination of solid technological achievements and Smith's driven, hyper-competitive personality helped Altera emerge with Xilinx as the two dominant forces in FPGAs by the early 1990s.
He retired in 2003 to his collection of race cars, and with his wife, Mary, undertook various philanthropic endeavors, including a movement to clean up trash around Sand Hill Road where he was killed.
By: DocMemory
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