Remembering Semiconductor Industry Pioneer Erich Bloch, 1925-2016

by John Neuffer, President and CEO

SIA and the entire semiconductor community are saddened by the recent passing of Erich Bloch, former vice president at IBM, director of the National Science Foundation, and founding chairman of the Semiconductor Research Corporation. Bloch passed away on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016 at the age of 91.

Bloch served in a variety of critical technology management roles at IBM from 1952 to 1981, including overseeing the difficult manufacturing challenges of IBM’s groundbreaking System/360 family of mainframe computers in the 1960s. As director of the National Science Foundation from 1984 to 1990, Bloch oversaw a $3 billion annual budget and the award of more than 10,000 research grants in the natural and social sciences and engineering.

Bloch received SIA’s Robert N. Noyce Award in 1999 for his lifelong contributions to the semiconductor industry and his vision to advance the industry’s technological competitiveness.

Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to the charity of your choice.