Former Intel CEO Andy Grove Passes Away

Andrew S. Grove, a looming figure within Intel for decades, has died at the age of 79.

Grove was part of the founding of Intel way back in 1968 with Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore (yes, that Moore) and served in key leadership roles for decades, which included serving as President (1979-1987), CEO (1987-1998), and Chairman (1997-2005). From then on he was a Senior Advisor for the company until his death this week.

Intel posted much information about Groves’ background, including his emigration from Hungary in 1936 and his early career on the R&D team at Fairchild Semiconductor. His list of honors is extensive, and in addition to his significant contributions as an executive, Grove penned numerous books and articles and served on many boards (mainly those focused on health care.)

In a statement, current Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of former Intel Chairman and CEO Andy Grove. Andy made the impossible happen, time and again, and inspired generations of technologists, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.”

Intel noted in Groves’ obituary that he was a key decision maker behind pushing Intel towards microprocessors, which shortly resulted in the 386 and Pentium chips and an explosion in annual revenue from $1.9 billion to $26 billion.

And of course, the rest is history. All of us have used PCs equipped with Intel processors, and some of us have been for many, many years. Odds are that you’re using one right now, reading these words.

It’s easy to disassociate high-profile execs like Grove with our day-to-day lives, but people like him make key decisions that affect all of us tech enthusiasts. It’s actually a rather symbiotic relationship: Companies make strategic decisions and create products, and then they listen to the collective feedback of users and reviewers. They mesh that feedback with their own vision and ideas to iterate, make changes, and decide on strategies. One informs the other.

Many of you in the Tom’s Hardware community have been building PCs for decades and surely used chips that Grove directly had a hand in creating. What are some of your remembrances of tech from the Grove era? What did you think of his time at the helm of Chipzilla?

Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.