Norm Winningstad
Encyclopedia
C. Norman Winningstad (November 5, 1925 – November 24, 2010) was an American engineer and businessman in the state of Oregon
. A native of California
, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II
before working at what is now Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
. After moving north to Oregon, he started working for Tektronix
before starting several companies in what became the Silicon Forest
in the Portland metropolitan area
. He founded or helped to found Floating Point Systems
, Lattice Semiconductor
, and Thrustmaster
. Winningstad and his wife were also noted philanthropists in the Portland area, with a theater at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts
named in his wife Dolores’ honor.
, to Chester and Phyllis Winningstad on November 5, 1925. He grew up in California and then served in the United States Navy
during World War II as an electronic technician's mate. After the war Winningstad continued in the electronics field when graduated from the University of California, Berkeley
with a degree in electrical engineering
.
He graduated in 1948 as an expert in vacuum tube
s, which was the same year Bell Labs
developed the transistor
. As the transistor would replace vacuum tubes in most applications, Winningstad later joked that he “graduated technically obsolete”. He then worked at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in his hometown for a few years. He was married to Dolores, and they had two sons, Richard and Dennis, along with a daughter Joanne.
Winningstad moved north to Oregon in 1958, settling in the Portland metropolitan area
. There he worked for technology company Tektronix
(Tek), near the city of Beaverton
. While with Tek, he was later described as “one of its leading brains during its 1960s heyday". Tek manufactured oscilloscopes, and later diversified into areas such as printers and even television production equipment. Winningstad continued his education with a degree from Portland State University
.
He left Tektronix in 1970 to help start supercomputer
company Floating Point Systems
in Beaverton. At his new company, he received assistance from his old company in the way of simulations and early production of prototypes. Winningstad grew the company to 1,600 employees and annual revenues of $127 million, though he left and came back to resurrect the company before Floating Point went bankrupt in the early 1990s.
Winningstad continued his entrepreneurial ways by helping to found Lattice Semiconductor
in Hillsboro
in 1980 and Thrustmaster
in 1990, also in Hillsboro. These, Floating Point Systems, and Tek helped create the Silicon Forest, which Lattice trademarked in the 1980s.
In 1985, he was a supporter of a proposed sales tax
, which ultimately failed. He moved to the Oregon Coast
in 1989, settling in Newport
. He maintained a home in the Portland area, and flew his helicopter between his homes. His business ventures provided him with the wealth to own the helicopter, and at one time four Ferrari
s.
He wrote The Area of Enlightenment: "Don't Confuse Me with the Facts, I've Already Made up my Mind" with ghostwriter
Carla Perry, which was published in 2005. Winningstad, as a veteran himself, was a supporter of veterans and would attend memorial services to show his support. He also supported cultural institutions in the Portland area, such as the Washington County Museum
, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, and the Portland Center for the Performing Arts
, which includes the Dolores Winningstad Theater, named after his wife.
On November 24, 2010, Norm Winningstad committed suicide by gunshot at the age of 85. He killed himself at his home in Newport after suffering from an undisclosed illness that had caused him great physical pain. Winningstad had started a company near his death to develop one of his last technologies. The technology was a product to record police interactions after they pulled someone over.
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. A native of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
before working at what is now Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. It is located on the grounds of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Hills above the central campus...
. After moving north to Oregon, he started working for Tektronix
Tektronix
Tektronix, Inc. is an American company best known for its test and measurement equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. In November 2007, Tektronix became a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation....
before starting several companies in what became the Silicon Forest
Silicon Forest
Silicon Forest is a nickname for the cluster of high-tech companies located in the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Southwest Washington, and most frequently refers to the industrial corridor between Beaverton and Hillsboro in northwest Oregon.The name is similar to...
in the Portland metropolitan area
Portland metropolitan area
The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area , also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S...
. He founded or helped to found Floating Point Systems
Floating Point Systems
Floating Point Systems Inc. was a Beaverton, Oregon vendor of minisupercomputers. The company was founded in 1970 by former Tektronix engineer Norm Winningstad....
, Lattice Semiconductor
Lattice Semiconductor
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation is a United States based manufacturer of high-performance programmable logic devices . Founded in 1983, the company employs about 700 people and has annual revenues of around $300 million, with Darin Billerbeck as the chief executive officer...
, and Thrustmaster
Thrustmaster
Thrustmaster, is a designer and developer of joysticks, game controllers, and steering wheels for PCs and video gaming consoles alike. It has many licensing agreements with third party, prestigious brands such as Ferrari, TOP GUN, Beretta and Splinter Cell as well as licensing some products under...
. Winningstad and his wife were also noted philanthropists in the Portland area, with a theater at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts
Portland Center for the Performing Arts
The Portland Center for the Performing Arts is an organization within Metro that runs venues for live theatre, concerts, cinema, small conferences, and similar events in Portland, Oregon, United States....
named in his wife Dolores’ honor.
Early life
C. Norman Winningstad was born in Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, to Chester and Phyllis Winningstad on November 5, 1925. He grew up in California and then served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II as an electronic technician's mate. After the war Winningstad continued in the electronics field when graduated from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
with a degree in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
.
He graduated in 1948 as an expert in vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
s, which was the same year Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
developed the transistor
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
. As the transistor would replace vacuum tubes in most applications, Winningstad later joked that he “graduated technically obsolete”. He then worked at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in his hometown for a few years. He was married to Dolores, and they had two sons, Richard and Dennis, along with a daughter Joanne.
Oregon
Portland metropolitan area
The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area , also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S...
. There he worked for technology company Tektronix
Tektronix
Tektronix, Inc. is an American company best known for its test and measurement equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. In November 2007, Tektronix became a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation....
(Tek), near the city of Beaverton
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, seven miles west of Portland in the Tualatin River Valley.As of the 2010 census, the population is 90,267. This makes it the second-largest city in the county and Oregon's sixth-largest city...
. While with Tek, he was later described as “one of its leading brains during its 1960s heyday". Tek manufactured oscilloscopes, and later diversified into areas such as printers and even television production equipment. Winningstad continued his education with a degree from Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
.
He left Tektronix in 1970 to help start supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
company Floating Point Systems
Floating Point Systems
Floating Point Systems Inc. was a Beaverton, Oregon vendor of minisupercomputers. The company was founded in 1970 by former Tektronix engineer Norm Winningstad....
in Beaverton. At his new company, he received assistance from his old company in the way of simulations and early production of prototypes. Winningstad grew the company to 1,600 employees and annual revenues of $127 million, though he left and came back to resurrect the company before Floating Point went bankrupt in the early 1990s.
Winningstad continued his entrepreneurial ways by helping to found Lattice Semiconductor
Lattice Semiconductor
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation is a United States based manufacturer of high-performance programmable logic devices . Founded in 1983, the company employs about 700 people and has annual revenues of around $300 million, with Darin Billerbeck as the chief executive officer...
in Hillsboro
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the...
in 1980 and Thrustmaster
Thrustmaster
Thrustmaster, is a designer and developer of joysticks, game controllers, and steering wheels for PCs and video gaming consoles alike. It has many licensing agreements with third party, prestigious brands such as Ferrari, TOP GUN, Beretta and Splinter Cell as well as licensing some products under...
in 1990, also in Hillsboro. These, Floating Point Systems, and Tek helped create the Silicon Forest, which Lattice trademarked in the 1980s.
In 1985, he was a supporter of a proposed sales tax
Sales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
, which ultimately failed. He moved to the Oregon Coast
Oregon Coast
The Oregon Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It runs generally north-south along the Pacific Ocean, forming the western border of the state; the region is bounded to the east by the Oregon Coast Range. The Oregon Coast stretches approximately from the Columbia River in the north to...
in 1989, settling in Newport
Newport, Oregon
Newport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868...
. He maintained a home in the Portland area, and flew his helicopter between his homes. His business ventures provided him with the wealth to own the helicopter, and at one time four Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
s.
Later years and death
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
Carla Perry, which was published in 2005. Winningstad, as a veteran himself, was a supporter of veterans and would attend memorial services to show his support. He also supported cultural institutions in the Portland area, such as the Washington County Museum
Washington County Museum
Washington County Museum is a history museum located in unincorporated Washington County, Oregon, United States at Portland Community College's Rock Creek Campus. Opened in 1975, the museum is operated by the Washington County Historical Society with a mission of preserving the history of the area...
, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, and the Portland Center for the Performing Arts
Portland Center for the Performing Arts
The Portland Center for the Performing Arts is an organization within Metro that runs venues for live theatre, concerts, cinema, small conferences, and similar events in Portland, Oregon, United States....
, which includes the Dolores Winningstad Theater, named after his wife.
On November 24, 2010, Norm Winningstad committed suicide by gunshot at the age of 85. He killed himself at his home in Newport after suffering from an undisclosed illness that had caused him great physical pain. Winningstad had started a company near his death to develop one of his last technologies. The technology was a product to record police interactions after they pulled someone over.