"Fairchild Semiconductor" 50th Reunion 1957-2007

Over 1000 Fairchild Semiconductor old-timers assembled at The Computer History Museum to celebrate FAIRCH's 50th! As an early member of the LA Sales Team I have to say it was very gratifying seeing all the familiar faces and trying to place them back to 1969! Since I went into the Personal Computer business I lost track of most of the old guys.


Mike Baghramian and I stopped by to see Ed Turney and unfortunately he is not doing too good. It was fun to reminisce with Ed and it's a shame he couldn't join in on the reunion. It was still nice to see him and we wish him the best.
Here is some of the early memorabilia that was on display.






I wish I would have collected and held on to more semiconductor wafers as I certainly had my chances back in the old days- today they are hard to come buy.





Selection of nice gold semiconductors from the early 60's. I also have some of these in gold with unique designs. I spent a fair amount of time with the Chief Packaging Guru- (wish I kept his name) and he was so amazed by the display that I brought to the event. I had 12 panels and had a great time talking parts to many of my old friends.



Jerry Sanders was on his "A"Game at the Fairchild panel on Friday night. Floyd Kvamme was the moderator and took us back to the early days interviewing Gordon Moore, Wilf Corrigan and Jerry Sanders. It was a high-energy evening! Glad I was there!



Compared notes with Mike Markkula who left Fairchild and Intel for early retrirement at 32 and eventually provided the initial capital for Apple Computer. Nice to see Mike and his charming wife. Also joining us is Mike Baghramian.





More photos and info next week-
See us online at acpsurplus.com
Dave Freeman

FAIRCH 50th Fairchild Semiconductor Reunion Highlights

The 50th Reunion for Fairchild Semiconductor was held October 5-7 at The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. I will offer a few observations and photos over the next couple weeks. One surely could say...If it wasn't for Fairchild the world would certainly be a different place today. It all started with the Planar Transistor! This Technology was the key serendipitous discovery and invention that made Fairchild successful! Nobody knew for sure if it was possible but the early pioneers successfully created, perfected and put into production the planar technology.
Here is a screenshot of the first planar transistor created in 1957 by Fairchild!

I joined Fairchild in 1969, hired by John Richardson and Eric White, to handle sales out of the Hollywood Office. I believe the reason our sales office was located across from Grauman's Chinese Theatre was the choice of Jerry Sanders who was part of the sales team in LA. Jerry handled Hughes Aircraft in SoCal and word was he would pre-announce his arrival to Hughes via company intercom and pitch the Fairchild Line to groups while usually standing on a desk. He provided them with a show and sales pitch they would never forget!
In 1968 Les Hogan joined Fairchild from Motorola celebrated by "Hogan's Heroes".



Working at Fairchild in the early days was quite a learning experience. Things moved at lightspeed! If you were slow to get with the program the sales machine would run you over! Everything and anything was possible at Fairchild. Success was the common denominator, if I learned anything it was: work smart and keep focused you would win and be successful. You were surrounded by SUCCESS!

Gordon Moore joined by Bernie Marren and Murray Siegel!