Ronald Vernon Schmidt
March 31, 1944-Sept. 22, 2022
Portola Valley, California

Ronald Vernon Schmidt, 78, passed away on 9/22/22, at his home. Ron was born on 3/31/1944 in San Francisco. He graduated from South San Francisco High School and continued his education at U.C. Berkeley where he received his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1970. After completing his PhD, he went on to do post doctoral work at University College, London before joining Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey. Seven years later he migrated West where he worked at Xerox PARC before cofounding SynOptics Communications. He was first and foremost an engineer at heart. He was a visionary leader and a pioneer in the field of intelligent LAN hubs over shielded twisted pair telephone wire. Although he was a man of few words, his words were impactful. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of IEEE.

Upon his retirement he pursued his passion for model trains and as with his career work, he set high standards for the hobby.

He is survived by Lila, his wife of 53 years, his daughter Sara, son-in-law, Don Simpson and two grandchildren, Lila and Reed.

Tags: business