I leave in the morning, driving up to Sonoma County to attend a memorial service on Friday for a former co-worker that I've known for 38+ years. When I started with the company he was just one of a group of young programmers just out of college but over the years he showed us all that he was very good at what he did
For example, about 25 years ago, he left the company and with some help from his father, who was the sound editor on the first Star Wars movie, he developed a system to digitally edit the sound tracks on Hollywood movies. His product was so successful that he eventually sold it to a company that now provides the system to virtually all of the studios.
And to show how significant this was, about ten years ago he was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his contribution to the movie industry and was awarded an Oscar.
After that temporary time away from the company, he returned and rejoined the R&D department, working his way up to eventually being named President and finally CEO of our corporation. But he still was always a friend to all of us, especially those of us who had worked together back when it was just few hundred people, working for a rather minor division of McDonald Douglas. By the time he retired, just a month after I did in 2016, the company was then an integral part of Siemens AG, one of the largest companies in Europe. By then our numbers had grown to close to 10,000 employees spread around the world.
Chuck was only 61 years old. When he retired he and his wife moved to Sonoma Country and purchased a winery which they were just starting to make their mark on. Appropriately, the memorial service is being held at a winery in Glen Ellen, in the heart of Wine Country.
I'll be driving back on Saturday.
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