Former Intel CEO and Chairman Andy Grove passed away Monday at 79. Throughout his life, Grove was influential in technology and business globally, advocating for and helping to shape Silicon Valley into what it is today. Grove was as complex as he was influential. Here’s what you need to know about him:
- Grove was born András Gróf to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1956 after surviving the Nazi occupation under a false identity and then Soviet control.
- He was the first hire at Intel. Grove was hired by Gordon Moore at Fairchild Semiconductor as a researcher after college. When Moore left Fairchild to co-found Intel in 1968, he took Grove with him.
- You can thank Grove for your PC. Grove was key to Intel’s shift from memory chips to microprocessors. Under Grove’s guidance, Intel made the 386 and Pentium chips that led to wide PC adaptation.
- Grove beat prostate cancer in the early 1990’s by doing his own research. Just like tackling an new Intel chip, Grove took his diagnosis of prostate cancer in 1995 and did his own thorough research on the subject. He bucked doctors’ advice to have surgery, opting for radiation treatment. Grove wrote about his experience in a cover story for Fortune in 1996.
- Medical research was a pet project for Grove. After being diagnosed with cancer, and later Parkinson’s Disease in 2000, Grove became passionate about research. During his lifetime, Grove gave more than $26 million toward Parkinson’s research, and offered as much as $40 million to the Michael J. Fox Foundation upon his death.
- Philanthropy was important to Grove. Besides cancer and Parkinson’s research, Grove was passionate about immigration, education, and reproductive rights. The City College of New York’s engineering school is named after Grove, an alumnus, donated $26 million to the school in 2005.
Photo: Intel Free Press