Roger Smullen
December 20, 1935 to February 21, 2018
Roger Allen Smullen was born to Elsie (Huber) and Fay Smullen in Le Center, Minnesota. He attended college at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The son of a Post Master, one of Roger’s early jobs was delivering the mail at the University of Minnesota. In 1959, after graduating from University of Minnesota with a BS in Mechanical Engineering he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to join Fairchild Semiconductor. Mentored by semiconductor industry pioneers Jean Hoerni, Andy Grove, Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce, Roger learned the art of semiconductor wafer manufacturing and contributed to the development and mass productization of the semiconductor planar process, the foundation of today’s semiconductor industry. At Fairchild, he was recognized as a talented employee and rose to the position of Director of Integrated Circuits.
In 1967, Roger left Fairchild with Charlie Sporck, Fred Bialek, Floyd Kvamme, Pierre Lamond and Don Valentine, to co-found a newly reorganized National Semiconductor Corporation in Santa Clara, California. In 1970 he co-founded Intersil Memory in Cupertino, California with former Fairchild mentor Jean Hoerni, Kenneth Moyle, Marshall Cox and Joe Rizzi. A well-known, well-liked and well-respected industry leader, Roger held executive and board positions at several other semiconductor companies including Micro Linear Corp. in San Jose, California and Applied Micro Circuits Corp. in San Diego, California. Roger was part of a group of highly talented entrepreneurs who together created Silicon Valley.
Roger’s passions outside of work included reading, art, jazz, sports and travel. Roger was a life long learner and voracious reader enjoying poetry, biographies, history, fiction and current events. Roger and his wife Mercy, an accomplished print artist, supported Arts throughout the Bay Area. Beneficiaries included The California Society of Printmakers, The Triton Museum in Santa Clara, The San Jose Museum of Art, and The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. Roger and Mercy founded the Mercy and Roger Smullen Print and Media Study Center at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. Roger was also a great supporter of the Palo Alto Jazz Alliance and City Team Ministries.
Donations in Roger’s memory can be made to the Palo Alto Jazz Alliance at: Palo Alto Jazz Alliance PO Box 60397 Palo Alto, CA 94306 Roger is preceded in death by his brothers Jim and Jack Smullen and ex-wife Elaine Smullen. Roger is survived by his wife Mercy Smullen, his daughter Susan Gomon (Greg) of Los Gatos, son Roger Smullen Jr. (Dede) and grandchildren Eliot, Gabrielle and Thomas Smullen of Saratoga, step-Sons Dana Durand of Monterey, Deric (Bernadette) and Ryan Durand of San Jose, and step-grandchildren Malia and Christian Durand, Ariel and Allison Durand, Dane Durand, Danielle Hamady (Dirk), and step-great grandson Jaxson Hamady.
A Celebration of Life will be held on March 24th, 2018. Contact Dede Smullen at 408-679-0254 for information.