Blog

My wife Gloria and I were talking last evening about the sudden loss of Ron and this image of the Pacific coast came to mind. Ron was a constant presence in my life for many years. He worked with me and for me for several years during the development of an automatic placement and routing system for integrated circuits (HARP) that we developed within HP Labs. The exact dates and the details of projects have receded into the fog of memory. When I heard from Ron’s friend and co-worker Marc Clarke, that Ron was critically ill I was concerned. When I learned that Ron had passed away on Christmas Day 2007, I entered what I can only describe as the fog of loss. I haven’t seen Ron since he left Agilent and moved back to Oregon to be nearer his family. I remember him as a hard worker who was easy going with a sense of humor. Many times it seems to me Ron was the one who could bridge the gap between engineers and managers who held strongly differing opinions. Ron would talk to both sides, understand their points and issues, and help engineer a solution that got the work moving forward and the customer satisfied. One time when he was thinking of leaving the HARP group I remember how hard his project manager Eric Slutz and I fought to convince him to stay. We knew how valuable he was to the group and we knew we didn’t want to loose him. In the end he decided to stay. We were greatly releived.Time passes and memories fade into the fog, but like the image above the fog masks a complex scene of great beauty. Even if the fog never lifts we know that the beauty was there, and will be there again when the light shines through.Help us bring Ron’s memory into the light. He has gone, we can’t alter that fact, but we can remember the wonderful things about him that brought light into our lives.Ken VanBree