Happy Birthday David Packard: The Man With Manifold Talents

It is an awesome journey of the man from engineer to the helm of one of the world’s largest electronic device manufacturing companies. The man did not restrict his workspace to only electronics but also took up to serving the country as the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense. A well-known philanthropist David Packard, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) has made many accomplishments and contributions across various sectors. On his 110th birth anniversary, here are a few interesting yet less known facts about the entrepreneur.

Date of Birth: September 7, 1912

Died:  March 26, 1996

1. Interestingly, Hewlett-Packard Company got its name through tossing a coin. As Hewlett, the other co-founder of HP won the toss it was named Hewlett-Packard. The historical domain name “HP.com,” was registered on March 3, 1986, under Packard’s guidance. The domain name is one of the earlier ones to get registered.
2. David Packard born in Pueblo, Colorado; from his early days, he had a flair for Science. Owing to his interest he spent a lot of time going through every entry under natural sciences in World Book Encyclopedia. Apart from this, he was passionate about constructing mechanical things. His backyard space was dedicated to his self-made models. By twelve years of age, he built a radio receiver.
3. Soon after completion of his Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, he got an offer from General Electric to work with them. But, David Packard was much interested in establishing his own business firm along with his friend William Hewlett. However, following the advice of his professor Fred Terman he joined the testing department of General Electric. As the job market was in depression then.
4. While working with General Electric (GE) in 1938, he got married to Lucile Salter. Interestingly, he took only a day off on Friday for marriage and he returned to office on Monday.
5. Finally, his longtime desire came true in 1939, when he started Hewlett-Packard from a small garage in Palo Alto with a capital of $538. The company was incorporated in 1947 with David Packard as President.
6. When President Nixon of USA, approached David Packard to take up the position as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense he readily agreed. With this growth in his career, his annual salary was reduced by about a million dollars to $30,000 in 1969.
7. David Packard was an active philanthropist as he dedicated a lot of time towards charitable activities. Stanford University, the alma mater of David Packard has been the huge recipient of his contributions. Both Packard and Hewlett have made personal contributions more than $300 million. Moreover, David Packard had significant contributions in all aspects of the University.
8. The interest of his daughters Nancy Burnett and Julie Packard motivated the futurist to build a unique aquarium. The Monterey Bay Aquarium displayed the creatures as it is in their natural habitats in 1984. Further, the Aquarium established the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in May 1987 to cater to the research and development in Oceanography.
9. David Packard was the recipient of prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988, the highest civilian award of USA. The award honours the individuals who have contributed to the national interests or security. Further, the award is bestowed by the President of the United States.
10. On November 2, 2015, Hewlett-Packard split its PC and Printers business from the enterprise products and services business, resulting in two publicly traded companies – HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Though, 25 years pass by after his death his contributions to society remain evergreen. His birth anniversary is a moment to be cherished forever and a moment to thank him for such a wonderful venture.

The post is a part of a B’day Series where we celebrate the birthday of renowned personalities from Tech Industry, very frequently. The series includes Entrepreneurs, C-level Executives, innovators, or renewed leaders who moved the industry with their exponential skill set and vision. The intent is to highlight the person’s achievements and touch base the little-known, but interesting, part of his life. You can see the list of all earlier celebrated tech personalities, including Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayor, Sean Parker, Andy Rubin, Julian Assange, Sir Richard Branson, Sergey Brin by following this link or subscribe to your daily newsletter.

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