Former Intel chairman and CEO Andy Grove dies at 79

NEW YORK — Andy Grove, who escaped the ruins of postwar Europe to become one of the architects of Silicon Valley’s growth into the world’s center of technology creation, died on Monday (March 21). He was 79.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of former Intel Chairman and CEO Andy Grove,” Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said in a statement on the company’s website. “Andy made the impossible happen, time and again, and inspired generations of technologists, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.”

The Hungarian-born refugee was one of the founders of Intel, playing a key role in building it up from a 1960s startup to the world’s largest semiconductor maker, a title it still holds. Grove, who literally wrote the book on how to foresee and overcome a corporate crisis with “Only the Paranoid Survive,” also broke new ground by making his electronics component maker a household brand name central to the worldwide adoption of the personal computer. Always seeking to pass along the benefits of his experiences, Grove acted as a mentor to many of Silicon Valley’s elite — from Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg. BLOOMBERG