Bill Hewlett, HP Co-founder, Dies at 87.

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PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 12, 2001

William R. Hewlett, co-founder and former president of Hewlett-Packard Company, and one of the United States' foremost business leaders, technologists and philanthropists, died at home in his sleep at 8 a.m. PST today of natural causes. He was 87 years old.

"Our hearts go out to the families, as we join them in mourning the loss of a great and gentle man," said Carly Fiorina, HP chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We, as stewards of his legacy, will cherish and nurture Bill's bright spirit of invention, remembering and celebrating the rich heritage that he and Dave entrusted us with."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Hewlett, who retired from active management of HP in 1978, made important contributions throughout his career in technology, science and business. Together with David Packard, who died March 26, 1996, he founded Hewlett-Packard Company here in a one-car garage in 1939. Their original company now consists of two multinational enterprises: Hewlett-Packard Company, with total revenue from continuing operations of $48.8 billion in fiscal year 2000 and more than 88,500 employees, and Agilent Technologies, Inc., with net revenues of more than $10.8 billion in fiscal year 2000 and more than 47,000 employees. The legendary garage -- designated the birthplace of Silicon Valley -- is a California state historical landmark.

While Hewlett is perhaps best remembered for his scientific expertise and Packard for his business acumen, either could have stepped into the other's shoes at HP, and often did. Their lifelong partnership was remarkable as much for the personal friendship they shared for more than 60 years as it was for their business success and their innovative approach to running a company.

Largely through Hewlett and Packard's shared personal vision, HP has come to be recognized worldwide for its excellence in personnel practices, business management, product quality and service. Its innovative employment and management techniques -- known as the "HP Way" -- are widely emulated in the business world today. HP also ranks among the world's most generous corporate philanthropists, reflecting the founders' enduring commitment to good corporate citizenship.

William Redington Hewlett was born May 20, 1913, in Ann Arbor, Mich. He moved to California at age 3, when his father, a physician, joined the faculty at Stanford Medical School. As a boy, Hewlett showed a keen interest in science, conducting many physics and chemistry experiments and demonstrations. In 1930, he enrolled at Stanford University, where he met Packard. In 1934, Hewlett received a bachelor of arts degree from Stanford, and, in 1936, he earned a master of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then returned to Stanford, where, in 1939, he was awarded a master's degree in engineering. Also in 1939, he married Flora Lamson, a biochemist.

While at Stanford, both Hewlett and Packard were influenced strongly by the teaching of one of their professors, Frederick E. Terman, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of radio engineering. At Terman's urging, the two young men explored starting an electronics company. On Jan. 1, 1939, they founded Hewlett-Packard Company with $538 in personal capital.

The graduate thesis Hewlett wrote while at Stanford -- which focused on practical applications for the new electrical-engineering technology of negative feedback -- became the basis for HP's first product, the audio oscillator. One of the young company's first orders was from Walt Disney Studios, which used eight of the products to develop the state-of-the-art soundtrack for the movie "Fantasia." Despite their lack of business experience, the two entrepreneurs realized a modest profit in their first year in business -- starting an unbroken string of 61 consecutive years in the black.

After serving as a U.S. Army Signal Corps officer during World War II, Hewlett returned to HP in 1947 and was named vice president. He was elected executive vice president in 1957, president in 1964 and chief executive officer in 1969.

Hewlett resigned as president in 1977 and retired as chief executive officer in 1978. He then served as chairman of HP's executive committee until 1983, when he became vice chairman of the HP board of directors. In 1987, he was named director emeritus.

Throughout his HP career, Hewlett was a constant presence at HP Laboratories, often working side by side with the engineers at the company's research center. He was known for his uncanny ability to understand how new technologies could become successful products in the marketplace. For example, after HP introduced a desktop scientific calculator in 1968, Hewlett asked HP engineers to design something like it that would be small enough to fit in his shirt pocket. The result was the HP-35, the world's first handheld scientific calculator. When it was introduced in 1972, it made the slide rule obsolete.

Hewlett believed that one of his greatest accomplishments was the people-oriented approach to management that he developed with Packard. 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 instituted at HP. The HP Way has been adopted by many companies and serves as a legacy of the founders' influence.

"We did not want to run a hire-and-fire operation, but rather a company based on a loyal and dedicated work force," Hewlett once said. "We felt this work force should be able to share to some extent in the progress of the company." HP has had a cash profit-sharing plan for all employees since the company's start.

Early on, Hewlett envisioned HP as a global company. In 1957, when the Treaty of Rome established the European common market, Hewlett saw opportunities for HP and led the company to expand its base of operations beyond the United States. In 1959, HP opened a plant in Boeblingen, Germany, the company's first manufacturing site outside of Palo Alto. That same year, the company established its European headquarters in Geneva.

HP made its initial stock offering to the public in 1957. Both Hewlett and Packard held sizable portions of HP common stock from then on. Subsequently, an employee stock-purchase plan was created that enabled HP workers to purchase shares in the company at a discount, keeping in line with the founders' desire to have employees share in the company's success.

During his career, Hewlett served as a director of Chrysler Corp., Chase Manhattan Bank, FMC Corp., the Overseas Development Council, Kaiser Foundation Hospital & Health Plan and the Palo Alto-Stanford Hospital Center. In the 1960s, during the administration of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, he was a member of the President's General Advisory Committee on Foreign Assistance Programs and the President's Science Advisory Committee.

Hewlett had a strong interest in education and medicine. He was a trustee of Mills College in Oakland, Calif., from 1958 to 1968, and of Stanford University from 1963 to 1974. He was a member of the San Francisco regional panel of the Commission on White House Fellows from 1969 to 1970. In 1985, then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan awarded him the National Medal for Science, the nation's highest scientific honor. In addition, he received 14 honorary degrees from colleges and universities, including an honorary fellowship from Oxford University in 1996 for his contributions to education and society. At the time of his death, Hewlett was a director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, which Packard founded.

Hewlett was co-author of several technical articles in the field of electrical engineering and holder of numerous patents. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was co-founder of the American Electronics Association; a member of the National Academy of Engineering, which gave him its Founders' Award in 1993; a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; and an honorary lifetime member of the Instrument Society of America.

In 1966, the Hewlett family established the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to direct the family's extensive philanthropic interests. The foundation makes grants to organizations in the areas of: conflict resolution, education, environmental conservation, U.S.-Latin American relations, family and community development, the performing arts, and population.

Over the years, Hewlett and Packard made personal, combined 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 to honor the Stanford professor who was their mentor.

In 1994, Hewlett also donated $70 million to endow the Public Policy Institute of California, an independent, nonprofit research organization established to help improve public policy in the state.

Hewlett was an avid outdoorsman. He enjoyed skiing, mountain climbing, hunting and fishing. Along with Packard, he owned extensive cattle-ranching operations in California and Idaho. Hewlett was committed to environmental issues, particularly to preserving California's Lake Tahoe and Sierra regions. In his later years, he pursued interests in botany, photography and history.

In 1977, Flora Hewlett died, and in 1978, Hewlett married Rosemary Bradford. He is survived by his wife, Rosemary, and five children from his first marriage: Eleanor Hewlett Gimon; Walter B., William A. and James S. Hewlett; and Mary Hewlett Jaffe. In addition, he is survived by five stepchildren from his second marriage: David C., Robert A., Peter K. and Jeffrey M. Bradford; and Deborah Bradford Whelan.

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