Thomas R. Brown 1926 - 2002 The University of Arizona's 2001 Technology Executive of the Year

"It is hard to imagine anyone who personifies the blend of business and engineering more than Tom Brown," said engineering dean Tom Peterson at the announcement celebrating the gift of the Brown Family Foundation to The University of Arizona. "As Paige Burr noted, Tom was an engineer in the Edisonian tradition–a perfectionist who succeeds through repeated efforts to get it right. He was an MBA who knew how to come up with an idea and how to market it. His commitment to innovation, a first class product, and giving back to his community are concrete examples of how he lived his life."

Tom Brown was always a visionary. At the age of 16, he talked his way into MIT. But finding himself too young, too green, he left MIT and joined the Navy, where he was first introduced to electronics. After the Navy he talked his way into MIT again, this time earning a degree in general engineering in 1949.

His first career was in teaching but when he realized it would never pay, he headed off to Harvard Business School and earned his MBA in 1952.

Along with friend and colleague Paige Burr, Brown became enthralled with an astounding new device–the transistor. They realized that virtually no electronic instruments at that time were using the transistor and a company was born in Tom Brown's Tucson garage. Together they founded the Burr-Brown Corporation in 1956. Burr worked on product development in New York and Brown handled sales and manufacturing in Tucson.

The company struggled and Brown paid himself no salary for the first three years. It was 1959 before Burr-Brown showed its first profit. Eventually, he bought out his partner, Paige Burr, and the company went public in 1983. Brown dabbled with retirement in 1976 when he stepped down from day-to-day operations; but he returned in 1993, at age 66, to head the company as president and CEO for another five years.

In 2000, Texas Instruments bought Burr-Brown in a stock deal worth $7.6 billion. It was the largest acquisition to date in the semiconductor industry and the largest corporate merger in the history of the State of Arizona.

For more than 40 years Burr-Brown Corporation was an ever-present force in Tucson's economic well being. The strength of Burr-Brown's products, and its international reach, brought Texas Instruments into the portfolio of companies that drives Tucson's and Arizona's economy today.

Through it all, Tom Brown worked with fervor to improve the quality of life for those who call Tucson home. His leadership was evident in community issues that included regional transportation, mental health care, tax reform, school finance, and air transport. He served as chairman of the Transportation Committee for Tucson Tomorrow and was a member of the Tucson Airport Authority.

Tom Brown was always grateful for the expertise and efforts of The University of Arizona. UA faculty served as coaches, mentors, and colleagues. For decades, UA graduates provided a consistent stream of educated engineers and business graduates to fill the halls of the growing company. The UA made available educational classes for Burr-Brown employees as well.

Now, Tom Brown's legacy will live on and strengthen the disciplines of engineering and business that were so dear to his heart. The Thomas R. Brown Family Foundation has created a bit of "serendipity" that Tom himself would recognize.