SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 12, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maxim Integrated Products (Nasdaq:MXIM), with deep regret, announced today that John F. Gifford suffered an apparent heart attack and passed away Sunday evening. Jack founded Maxim in 1983 and served as the company's CEO until his retirement in 2007.
Jack was born in 1941 and grew up in Los Angeles, CA. He graduated from UCLA with a BSEE degree in 1963. He worked at Fairchild, initially in sales in Los Angeles, and later in marketing in Silicon Valley. Arguably, he was the first real marketing executive of analog ICs anywhere. After Fairchild, Jack co-founded Advanced Micro Devices. From there he joined Intersil, where he rose to become President. He left Intersil in early 1983. His absence from the industry was short-lived, and he returned after only a few weeks away, founding Maxim on the 14th of April in the same year.
"Jack founded Maxim with the firm belief that analog integrated circuits would prove to be a great growth market. He led our Company with steadfast determination for 24 years, grew it from the ground up to over $2B in sales," said Tunc Doluca, Maxim's CEO. "His success provided returns for shareholders and income for over 10,000 employees and their families over his long tenure here. He was a strong leader with seemingly limitless energy and enthusiasm. His attention to detail and guiding management principles established the highly pragmatic culture at Maxim."
"Jack's drive for continuous innovation still lives on at Maxim and is the foundation of our success. On behalf of all our employees, I would like to extend our sincerest sympathies to Jack's wife Rhodine and to the rest of his family."
Kip Hagopian, Maxim's Chairman, commented, "This is a truly sad day for Maxim and for me personally. Jack Gifford was a legend in Silicon Valley and an exceptional CEO who built one of America's great companies. He was also a wonderful husband and father and a deeply loyal friend to virtually every Maxim employee, past and present. We will all miss him enormously. On behalf of the Maxim Board, I want to send our heartfelt condolences to Jack's wife Rhodine and to the rest of the Gifford family in this time of great sorrow."
About Maxim
Maxim Integrated Products is a publicly traded company that designs, manufactures, and sells high-performance semiconductor products. The Company reported revenue in excess of $2 billion for fiscal 2008. Maxim was founded over 25 years ago with the mission to deliver innovative analog and mixed-signal engineering solutions that add value to its customers' products. To date, it has developed over 5900 products serving the industrial, communications, consumer, and computing markets. For more information, go to www.maxim-ic.com.
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