William Redington Hewlett Biography Quotes 3 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
William Redington Hewlett was born in 1913 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and grew up with a persistent curiosity about how things worked. His family later moved to California, placing him near Stanford University at a formative moment for West Coast engineering. At Stanford he studied electrical engineering and came under the mentorship of Frederick Terman, a professor whose encouragement and practical approach to invention shaped Hewlett's thinking. Terman emphasized the link between academic rigor and industry, and he introduced Hewlett to a fellow student whose skills and temperament complemented his own: David Packard. The friendship and collaboration that began in Stanford laboratories would become one of the defining partnerships in American business and technology. Seeking deeper technical grounding, Hewlett continued his studies and earned a graduate degree in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before returning to the Bay Area.

Founding a Company in a Garage
In 1939, guided by Terman's counsel and emboldened by their shared vision, Hewlett and Packard formally founded Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto. The venture began in a small garage on Addison Avenue, a modest space that would eventually be recognized as a historic symbol of Silicon Valley's origins. Their first notable product, a precise and affordable audio oscillator, found real-world traction when Walt Disney Studios used it while developing the sound system for Fantasia. That early validation showed Hewlett's knack for translating elegant engineering into practical tools customers needed. It also demonstrated the founders' strategy of solving concrete problems first and building a business step by step, without fanfare.

Building Hewlett-Packard
From the beginning, Hewlett and Packard cultivated a distinctive culture that later became known as the HP Way. Hewlett championed respect for individuals, openness, and a decentralized approach that gave engineers room to innovate. He practiced management by walking around, listening carefully on the factory floor and in labs, and encouraging the exchange of ideas across teams. As the company broadened from test and measurement instruments into calculators, computing, and eventually printing technologies, Hewlett's emphasis on technical excellence and customer trust never wavered. He believed that sound engineering and honest relationships would sustain the business over short-term trends, and he invested accordingly in research and in people.

Service and Postwar Expansion
During World War II, Hewlett left day-to-day company responsibilities to serve in the U.S. Army, applying his engineering training to military electronics. The experience expanded his perspective on complex systems and large-scale problem solving, and on returning he helped steer HP into a period of steady growth. The postwar years saw the company refine instruments for laboratories and industry and branch into new product lines that required rigorous design and agile manufacturing. Hewlett favored reinvesting earnings into capabilities and talent, a philosophy that supported HP's transition from a small supplier to a global technology enterprise. In the 1950s the company moved onto a broader financial footing and continued to expand its reach while maintaining a reputation for reliability.

Leadership and Collaborators
Hewlett's partnership with David Packard endured across decades, marked by mutual trust and a shared commitment to measured, principled growth. Their roles shifted as needed, and when Packard accepted a national government post at the end of the 1960s, Hewlett led the company through that interval, keeping focus on engineering and customers. He mentored successive generations of leaders, including John Young and Lew Platt, who later guided HP through new eras of computing. Throughout, he kept close ties with Stanford, working with Frederick Terman and other academic leaders to strengthen the regional ecosystem of research and enterprise. His approach helped create a feedback loop between university labs and industry that became a hallmark of Silicon Valley.

Philanthropy
With his wife, Flora Lamson Hewlett, he established the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in the 1960s, channeling their resources toward education, the environment, the arts, and community development. The foundation reflected the same long-term thinking that guided his business decisions: invest in institutions, support capable people, and measure outcomes with care. Hewlett supported universities, museums, and nonprofits that trained teachers, advanced scientific research, and broadened cultural access. The foundation's work continued to expand over time, becoming one of the nation's significant philanthropic organizations and a major expression of the family's values.

Personal Life
Hewlett's life away from the office was grounded in family and an abiding love for the outdoors. He and Flora raised children, including Walter Hewlett, who later carried forward the family's involvement with the company and with the foundation. Friends and colleagues remembered William Hewlett as direct and unpretentious, someone who preferred clear questions, practical solutions, and results that could be tested. He enjoyed the mountains and open spaces of the American West, and his appreciation for nature translated into support for conservation and environmental stewardship. After Flora's passing, he remained committed to the causes they had embraced together and continued to contribute quietly to civic life.

Later Years and Legacy
By the time he stepped back from active management, Hewlett had seen HP grow from a garage operation to a diversified technology leader with a global footprint. He received national recognition for his contributions to industry and innovation, but he measured success by the depth of the company's engineering and the character of its culture. He died in 2001 in California at the age of 87. The principles he and David Packard set in place still influence how technology companies think about employees, customers, and communities. The HP garage stands as a landmark, and the mentorship of Frederick Terman remains a foundational story in Silicon Valley. Through the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, his philanthropy endures, supporting teachers, scholars, artists, and environmental work. Through family members like Walter Hewlett and through the leaders he cultivated, his influence persists in institutions that continue to prize integrity, curiosity, and service.

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