David Packard
Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense.
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David Packard was an American electrical engineer and co-founder of Hewlett-Packard in 1939.[1] Packard died on March 26, 1996, at age 83 in Stanford, California.[2] During the Nixon administration, from 1969 to 1971, David Packard held the position of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense.[1]
Key facts and history
He earned a B.A. from Stanford University in 1934 and later a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1938.[3][4] The company's first product was an audio frequency oscillator, eight of which were sold to Walt Disney Studios for testing sound equipment used to produce Fantasia.[5] David Packard came into the world in Pueblo, Colorado; his father Sperry Sidney Packard worked as an attorney, and his mother was Ella Graber.[3] The founding of Hewlett-Packard occurred in 1939, when Packard and Bill Hewlett started the company inside Packard's garage, putting up $538 as their starting capital.[5]
1947 marked the year HP became a corporation, and Packard was chosen as its inaugural president, a role he filled until 1964.[6] A 1970 memorandum from Packard largely did away with Robert MacNamara's Total Package Procurement approach, allowing it only in uncommon circumstances.[7]
What the cited sources add
The Packard Humanities Institute, a non-profit foundation dedicated to archaeology, music, film preservation, and historical archives, received its major endowment from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.[8] According to the 1982 publication "Automating Apartheid," Packard faced criticism because HP grew its operations in South Africa, where the company's equipment helped enforce apartheid policies.[9][10] That same source notes that in 1980, Packard led the ceremony marking the start of construction for HP's corporate offices in Johannesburg.[9][10] After Nebraska became the first U.S. state government to pull its investments out of South Africa, Packard stated, "I'd rather lose business in Nebraska than with South Africa."[9][10]
The Packard Humanities Institute has David Woodley Packard, David Packard's son, serving as its president.[8][2]
References
- Wikipedia, "David Packard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Uniformed Services University", www.usuhs.edu (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Packard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: packhum.org, Packard Humanities Institute (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Packard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Guslani, "Packard Foundation and Caring for Colorado Foundation announce the Sperry S. And Ella Graber Packard Fund for Pueblo", The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, April 10, 2019; "The family tree of David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard (HP)", Packed with Packards!, June 8, 2018; "Official biography at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute", Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Packard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "David Packard, 1912-1996" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Packard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Official biography at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute", Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute; "David Packard, 1912-1996"; "David Packard, 1912-1996"; Packard, "HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company", Collins, 1995; "David Packard, 1912-1996" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Packard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "David Packard (1912-1996), Co-founder", Former Executive Bios; Fisher, "David Packard, 83, Pioneer Of Silicon Valley, Is Dead", The New York Times, 1996-03-27 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Packard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "1982 Sylvanus Thayer Award to David Packard", Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy; Brown, "Providing the Means of War: Historical Perspectives on Defense Acquisition", US Army Center of Military History and Industrial College of the Armed Forces, 2005, p. 145–146; Brown, "Providing the Means of War: Historical Perspectives on Defense Acquisition", US Army Center of Military History and Industrial College of the Armed Forces, 2005, p. 145–146 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- packhum.org, Packard Humanities Institute. facts only, no text reused. packhum.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9780910082006 ("Automating apartheid"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- Wikipedia, "David Packard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: American Friends Service Committee, "Automating Apartheid: U.S. Computer Exports to South Africa and the Arms Embargo", NARMIC/American Friends Service Committee, 1982, p. 75; Knight, "Sanctioning Apartheid", Africa World Press, 1990 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article David Packard (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: David Packard (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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