PATRICK EUGENE HAGGERTY 1914-1980

BY J. ERIK JONSSON

PATRICK EUGENE HAGGERTY died in Dallas, Texas, on October 1, 1980, following a brief illness. At that time he was Honorary Chair­man and General Director of Texas Instruments Incorporated, which he led with vigor, technical skill, sensitivity, and wisdom and where his career developed for thirty-five years.

Pat Haggerty was widely known as a warm, kind, and gentle man, not without a touch of Irish temper when faced with obstacles to achievements or principles. He was a humanist, a moral and deeply religious man, an inquisitive scholar of keen intellect and extraordinary reasoning powers. He was an avid reader and a willing and perceptive listener, whose self-education was wide ranging and never waned or faltered. For example, when he decided to sail his 45-foot sloop, the BAY BEA, in a transatlantic ocean race, he studied into the wee morning hours to master the navigational knowledge required. This somehow is characteristic of his intensity in all matters as well as proof that even for relaxation, he chose a challenge .

Pat Haggerty was esteemed and respected by colleagues and com­petitors alike. From him and his example, thousands of men and women gained strength and inspiration to contribute in their own ways to society, its people, and its institutions. His influence was thus immeasurable. The stamp of his leadership, innovative mind, and disciplined application of energy and time on achievements beneficial to society is deep and enduring.

His sense of organization and his system approaches to manage­ment of difficult and complex problems were peerless. An engineer and scientist of broad vision, his leadership in bringing technological developments into practical application beneficial to mankind is indisputable, his record indelible.

He was a man whose interest in society as well as his corporation went deep, whose understanding of corporate, national, and inter­national problems motivated him to make contributions beyond the reach of others less versatile, less daring, less disciplined, less focused, and less determined. In work and in leisure he chose to do only those things that would be productive.

The standards he set for himself and for others were of the highest order, and yet he was a realist. In a paper delivered in November 1979, entitled "The Corporation and The Individual," he closed with this statement: "We can overcome energy shortages, imper­sonal organizations, alienation. But we can only do it slowly, with persistence, with discipline, and, most of all, with wisdom."

He approached all endeavors in these ways, from attaining Eagle Scout rank in his youth, throughout his active life. Pat Haggerty was born on March 17, 1914, in Harvey, North Dakota, and was the son of a railroad telegrapher. He received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1936 from Marquette Uni­versity, where his grade average was the highest ever attained at that time. During his senior year he served as a Cooperative Student Engineer with the Badger Carton Company, Milwaukee, which he joined full time upon graduating. At Badger he quickly progressed to become Assistant General Manager with full responsibility for all engineering, manufacturing, and administrative functions, except sales. He left Badger in 1942 to join the U.S. Naval Reserve, advancing to Lieutenant prior to his discharge in 1945. For most of those years he served the Electronics Production Branch of the Bureau of Aeronautics with responsibility for overseeing procure­ment and production of certain naval airborne electronic equip­ment.

In November 1945 he joined Geophysical Service Inc. (GSI), Dallas, Texas, as General Manager of its Laboratory and Manufacturing Division. GSI pioneered the use of the reflection seismograph for location of oil and gas reserves. It evolved into Texas Instruments Incorporated after deliberate goals were set-to diversify the busi­ness, initially via the design and manufacture of equipment for national defense, and to become a good, big company. Annual sales in 1946 totaled $2.8 million. In 1979 the company had net sales of $3.2 billion.

It was Pat Haggerty who recognized the way electronics would be revolutionized and proposed that the fledgling enterprise become a licensee of Bell Telephone Laboratories for manufacture of transis­tors. Always a team man as well as a leader, he selected, developed, and led the group of scientists and engineers whose work enabled Texas Instruments to manufacture germanium and silicon transis­tors, in commercial quantities and approximately two years ahead of other licensees. To create initial markets for the germanium devices, he called for the design of the first pocket radio. He led the Texas Instruments team that achieved its design and aided a company based in Indianapolis to manufacture and market it.

Since the commencement of its careful, deliberate goal setting, a principal Texas Instruments objective has been to be on the leading edge of technology. Its breakthrough in the transistor field led to other technological advances, via major investments in new technol­ogies, in novations, and systems approaches to management. Included in its "firsts" were the invention of the integrated circuit ; introduction of a new digital technique for geophysical exploration that now is the world standard; development of a clad metal system that helped solve both U.S. and foreign coinage problems in the mid-1960s; invention of the miniature electronic calculator; and the first " computer on a chip," which made possible today's generation of calculators, and computers, at popular prices. Mr. Haggerty was a pivotal leader in these efforts and those that shaped Texas Instruments growth choices for the future. Until his death, he articulated the potential of electronics and its benefits to mankind.

Mr. Haggerty was elected Executive Vice-President and Director of Texas Instruments in 1951, President in 1958, and Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1966. He served in the latter position until his retirement and election as Honorary Chairman and General Director in April 1976. Pat Haggerty shared his capabilities, talents, and concerns widely-in business associations, in education, and in technical soci­eties. He was a coleader in the merger of the Institute of Radio Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Following their merger, he served two years as Director of the resultant Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was subsequently elected a Fellow of IEEE.

His leadership qualities and contributions to education were rec­ognized by honorary degrees or distinguished service awards by The Catholic University, Marquette University, North Dakota State University, Polytechnic Institute of New York, Rensselaer Polytech­nic Institute, University of Dallas, University of Notre Dame, and University of Wisconsin. For a number of years until shortly before his death, he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Rockefeller University. He was also a longtime Trustee and influential leader in the development of the University of Dallas, a twenty-five-year-old institution committed to excellence.

Other recognitions accorded his achievements include the Elec­tronic Industries Association's Medal of Honor; Founder's Award, IEEE; Industrial Research Institute Medalist; John Fritz Medalist; WEMA Medal of Achievement; and the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal (ASME & AMA). He was a Fellow of the American Associa­tion for the Advancement of Science and a Knight Commander of the Equestrial Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Mr. Haggerty was a member at various times of the Business Council; Defense Science Board; President's Science Advisory Committee; National Commission on Technology, Automation and Economic Progress; and President's Nuclear Safety Oversight Com­mittee.

He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineer­ing (NAE) in 1965 and served various terms as a member of NAE Committees on Membership, Gifts, and Endowments, and one term as Chairman of the NAE Nominating Committee. He served three years each as a member of the NAE Committee on Public Engineering Policy and as a member of the NAE Council. He wrote many papers for publication in managerial and techni­cal society journals as well as for universities. A man for all seasons, Pat Haggerty felt his own achievements resulted solely from commitments he perceived as his personal responsibilities. For himself he penned this prayer: "God, grant me the grace to fulfill with wisdom, justice, respect, humility and human­ity my duties to all for whom and to whom I am responsible."

Pat Haggerty was a devoted family man. He is survived by his wife, Beatrice, their five children, and thirteen grandchildren. Clearly his prayer embraced them and his corporate family as well as a larger society of men, women, and children.