The University of Arizona formally dedicated a conference room Wednesday at the UA department of electrical and computer engineering to Tucson electronics pioneer Tom Brown, founder of the former Burr-Brown Corp.
The Thomas R. Brown Conference Room, Room 530 of the UA's ECE Building, 1230 E. Speedway, is adorned with graphic wall panels recounting Brown's scientific and entrepreneurial journey and his ties to the UA.
Brown, who died in 2002 at the age of 75, founded Burr-Brown with friend Page Burr in 1956 with about $50,000, initially working in Brown's Tucson garage.
The company grew into a Tucson high-tech success story with a payroll of 1,200 and a leading position in world electronics manufacturing. Burr-Brown was acquired by Texas Instruments Inc. in 2000 in a stock deal valued at $7.6 billion.
The UA played a significant role in the success of Burr-Brown, and the ongoing success of Texas Instruments, through its students, professors and programs, trustees of the Thomas R. Brown Family Foundation say in a commemorative plaque.
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The foundation continues that relationship through numerous endowed professorships and student scholarships in the UA's College of Engineering, College of Science and Eller College of Management.
On hand for Wednesday's dedication were Sarah Brown Smallhouse, managing director of the Thomas R. Brown Foundations; former and current UA faculty, former Burr-Brown employees and former and current Texas Instruments workers.
Retired Burr-Brown/TI engineer Paul Prazak managed the conference-room project with the help of other former colleagues and the Brown family.