Publication Date: Wednesday Jan 17, 2001

Bill Hewlett, 1913-2001

The passing of an industry icon

About a year or so ago, a car pulled up on Addison Avenue in Palo Alto near the famous garage where Bill Hewlett and David Packard started their company long ago. A caretaker then took Hewlett to the back of the property and they sat for lunch, with the Silicon Valley forefather facing the garage.

By that time, Hewlett was already in failing health.

"You just wonder what was going through his mind 60 years after he left that garage," said Gary Fazzino, a longtime HP employee and Palo Alto city councilman, who heard of the poignant scene from an Addison Avenue neighbor.

Hewlett, the co-founder and former president of Hewlett-Packard Co. lauded for his groundbreaking accomplishments in business, technology and philanthropy, died Jan. 12 in his Palo Alto home of natural causes. He was 87.

Hewlett and Packard, who died in 1996, developed their company from humble beginnings into a giant of the technology industry and a benchmark for creating a corporate culture that valued employees and gave back to the community.

They also created foundations to disburse their accumulated wealth to worthy causes, an effort which will also be an enduring legacy for the two former Stanford University engineering students.

"There will be few people we will ever know who will ever cast the long shadow that he did on the valley," former Palo Alto mayor and current county Supervisor Liz Kniss said of Hewlett. "There is no question he has changed this landscape forever, both economically, sociologically and in any way you can think of."

Hewlett, like his co-founding partner, was a major benefactor to Stanford over the years. Together, they donated more than $300 million to the university.

"Stanford has lost one of its most loyal supporters as well as a trusted friend and advisor," said Stanford President John Hennessy.

"Bill represents the best of what philanthropy is. He never sought the limelight for his tireless contributions to the public good. His generosity was based on the belief that those who have had the good fortune to succeed should devote themselves to the betterment of society."

While the accolades to a life well-lived poured forth in press reports over the weekend, many spoke of Hewlett's accessibility and warmth in dealing with people.

Fazzino, who has worked at HP for 21 years, and is now vice president of government affairs, first met Hewlett as a student at Palo Alto High School, taking a tour of HP as part of student business program. "He was this warm, gentle, friendly, accessible individual, and that initial impression always remained," Fazzino said.

"He believed in people," said Dave Kirby, retired director of corporate relations at HP. "He felt the people who made the best decisions were the people closest to the problem."

Kirby said when came to work at HP, Hewlett told him, "This is your baby. I'm not going to second-guess you. If you do a good job, it will be apparent, and if you do a poor job, that will be apparent."

Fazzino also noted that Hewlett was genuinely interested in what was happening beyond his own office. "He would wander around and ask people what they were making or how they were doing," Fazzino said.

One of the earliest HP employees, Art Fong, noted that Hewlett "was a very technical guy. Packard was the business guy."

In those early days, the company didn't have individual offices for employees, Fong said, "just one big room. When one person needed something, he would ask, and someone else would just respond with the answer. It was like one big happy family, but everyone's lost in cubicles today."

Kirby said that Hewlett and Packard will also be remembered for creating "the HP Way," which valued employee relations. "It was based on a tremendous respect for people," Kirby said.

The HP Way values good corporate citizenship, all the way down to the individual employee level.

Hewlett and Packard personified those values, Packard by serving on the Palo Alto school board and Hewlett by serving on the old Palo Alto Board of Public Works.

Hewlett continued to have a strong interest in Palo Alto civic affairs over the years. "He would call me before school board and City Council elections and ask me who I was supporting," Fazzino said.

Hewlett, along with Packard and a third person, also put up the money that helped renovate the old Palo Alto police and fire station on Bryant Street into the Palo Alto Senior Center.

Hewlett and Packard launched their company, which they named by flipping a coin, in 1939, working the now-legendary one-car garage located in Palo Alto. Their two-man operation eventually grew into two multinational operations: the Hewlett-Packard Co., which employs more than 88,500 and boasts a total revenue of $48.8 billion in fiscal year 2000; and Agilent Technologies, which employs more than 47,000 and has a net revenue of $10.8 billion in fiscal year 2000.

The Addison Avenue garage is now a California state historical landmark.

A native of Ann Arbor, Mich., Hewlett came to California at the age of 3, when his father joined the Stanford University faculty. A devotee of science from a young age, Hewlett enrolled in Stanford in 1934, where he first met Packard. He received a bachelor of arts degree from the university, and later earned master's degree in science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master's degree in engineering from Stanford.

While at Stanford, both Hewlett and Packard were influenced by noted professor Frederick Terman, a pioneer in the field of radio engineering. Spurred by Terman, the two decided to form an electronics company. That same year, 1939, Hewlett married Flora Lamson, a biochemist. She passed away in 1977.

Hewlett's graduate thesis for Stanford formed the basis for HP's first product, an audio oscillator that Walt Disney studios used to develop what was then a state-of-the-art soundtrack for the movie, "Fantasia."

The pair finished their first year of business in the black, beginning 61 straight years of profit for the company.

After a stint in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, Hewlett was named HP's vice president in 1947. He took the position of 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 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.

Although his scientific accomplishments included his role in conceiving such revolutionary inventions as the hand-held calculator, Hewlett felt one of his greatest achievements was his creation, with Packard, of the "HP Way" approach to management. The philosophy was subsequently adopted by numerous other companies.

Hewlett's interests ranged far beyond his company. He served as director of the Palo Alto-Stanford Hospital Center (among many other companies and organizations), sat on advisory committees for President Lyndon Johnson, participated as a trustee of Mills College and Stanford University, co-wrote several technical articles in the field of electrical engineering and held numerous patents.

In 1985, Hewlett received the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor, from President Ronald Reagan.

Hewlett also contributed much to the community as a philanthropist. In 1966, the Hewlett family established the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which issues grants for conflict resolution, education, environmental conservation, among many other issues.

Hewlett was also an avid outdoorsman committed to environmental issues.

Hewlett is survived by his wife, Rosemary, who he married in 1978; five children from his first marriage: daughters Eleanor Hewlett Gimon and Mary Hewlett Jaffee; and sons Walter B. Hewlett, William A. Hewlett and James S. Hewlett. He is also survived by five stepchildren from his second marriage: David C. Bradford, Robert A. Bradford, Peter K. Bradford and Jeffrey M. Bradford; and Deborah Bradford Whelan.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson contributed to this report. 

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