David Packard

Packard was born in Pueblo, Colorado, the son of Ella (Graber) and Sperry Sidney Packard, an attorney. He attended Centennial High School, where he early on exhibited interest in science, engineering, sports, and leadership. Packard earned his B.A. from Stanford University in 1934, as well as letters in football and basketball. He was also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society and the Alpha Delta Phi Literary Fraternity. Packard briefly attended the University of Colorado at Boulder before taking a position with the General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York. In 1938, he returned to Stanford, where he earned a master's degree in electrical engineering later that year. == Hewlett-Packard ==

In 1939, Packard and Hewlett established Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Packard's garage with an initial capital investment of $538 (). Their first product was an audio frequency oscillator, 8 of which were sold to Walt Disney Studios for testing sound equipment used to produce Fantasia. It also became a major producer of calculators, computers, and laser and ink jet printers. HP incorporated in 1947, with Packard becoming its first president, serving in that role until 1964. He was then elected chief executive officer and chairman of the board, holding those positions through 1968. When Nebraska became the first US state government to divest from South Africa, Packard remarked "I'd rather lose business in Nebraska than with South Africa." At Packard's instruction, the domain name "HP.com" was registered on March 3, 1986, and as such was one of the earliest to be registered. == Department of Defense ==

Upon assuming the US presidency in 1969, Richard Nixon appointed Packard United States Deputy Secretary of Defense under Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird. A key reform was elimination of Robert MacNamara's Total Package Procurement except in rare situations. According to Lindorff, these exceptions reinstate the possibility of martial law in the U.S., prohibited since 1878. In the 1970s and 1980s Packard was a prominent advisor to the White House on defense procurement and management. He served as chairman of The Business Council in 1973 and 1974. Packard served on the Board of Directors of the Committee on the Present Danger, established in 1976, and in March 1982 he was appointed to President Reagan's "White House Science Council". From 1985 to 1986, he served as chairman of The Packard Commission. == Philanthropy ==

From the early 1980s until his death in 1996, Packard dedicated much of his time and money to philanthropic projects. In 1964, Packard and his wife had established the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In 1986, they donated $40 million toward building what became the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University; the new hospital opened in June 1991. Prompted by his daughters Nancy and Julie, in 1978 David and Lucile had created the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation. The couple eventually donated $55 million to build the new aquarium, which opened in 1984 with Julie Packard as its executive director. for which the university named the David Packard Electrical Engineering Building in his honor. Packard was a member of the American Enterprise Institute's board of trustees. He died on March 26, 1996, at age 83 in Stanford, California, leaving approximately $4 billion (the bulk of his estate) to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, including large amounts of valuable real property in Los Altos Hills. All three Packard daughters sit on the foundation's board of trustees. David Woodley Packard, his son, serves as president of the Packard Humanities Institute. As of 2025, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has provided $1.2 billion to ocean research and is the leading private benefactor globally. ==Honors==

• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1969) • IEEE Founders Medal along with William R. Hewlett. (1973) • Gold Medal from National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. (1975) • Vermilye Medal from the Franklin Institute (1975) • Sylvanus Thayer Award from the United States Military Academy (1982) • Francis Boyer Award from the American Enterprise Institute (1986) • Vannevar Bush Award (1987) • Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame (1988) • National Medal of Technology (1988) • Presidential Medal of Freedom (1988) • Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1988) • Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (1989) • Member of the American Philosophical Society (1989) • Lemelson-MIT Prize (1995) • Bower Award in Business Leadership, both from the Franklin Institute (1996) • Heinz Award Chairman's Medal along with William R. Hewlett. (1997) • Member of the California Hall of Fame (2006) • Entrepreneur Walk of Fame (2011) • The "David Packard" Lecture at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) • David Packard Hall at USU Packard's old home and garage in Palo Alto, California were placed on the California registry of historic places as "The Birthplace of Silicon Valley". The David Packard, built in 1977, was operated for Chevron, had a capacity and was registered under the Bahamian flag. In 2021, MBARI built a new research vessel named R/V David Packard in honor of him as their founder. ==See also==