EETimes.com – Teradyne co-founder DeWolf dies — Nick DeWolf was one of the greatest guys you’d ever want to meet. I considered him a friend and an all-around great guy. A direct relative of Ben Franklin he looked just like Franklin and had a high-energy mind to match. When chatting with him I always imagined that it would have been similar to be chatting with Franklin. A shame. A huge loss.
SAN FRANCISCO — Teradyne Inc. confirmed Tuesday (April 18) that company co-founder Nicholas DeWolf died April 16 in Aspen, Colo. He was 77.
DeWolf co-founded Teradyne in 1960 with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) classmate Alex d’Arbeloff. During his time as CEO of Teradyne, DeWolf is credited with designing more than 300 testers, including the world’s first computer-operated semiconductor test system.
He left Teradyne in 1971, settling with his family in Aspen. DeWolf spent the years since leaving Teradyne involved in many civic, charitable and educational programs, according to a statement released by Teradyne.
I met Nick in 1996, through a local ISP, which evolved from a computper club he formed. He was accessible and I’ll always remember him smiling alot. Last time I saw Nick we walked over to the local Rib house in Aspen and chatted along the way. It was a couple of summers ago now. I’ll miss him.
Met Nick kn 1945 as MIT Freshman. He constanly was dicsussing better ways top develop new products.. He had a fine mind and his sense of humor endeared him to many classmates. Nick and I spent 3 weeks travelling around Canaadain an old car he named Gladys, after we completed an ROTC training at Aberdeen, MD.
N ick was aleways available to talk to if you had a technical or career problem or just a hobby question. He caused me to buy my first computer and digiral camera and promised to give me more support than was available from the vendor.
He helped many people who had questions about prostate cancer and made himselgf available through a special website that he maintained.
His achievements at Transitron and Teradyhne are well known.
I found him to be the most compassionate engineer I everr met. .
He was very outspoken as to how engineering should be taught and respected. His death will touchn many of his classmate and admiring friends.
God bless his wife Maggie for her wonderful support of many of Nicks adventures.t