- John E. Jonsson: Texas Instruments
Born in September 1901, John Erik Jonsson was a co-founder and former president of Texas Instruments Incorporated. He was an expert businessman, and also served as the mayor of Dallas starting in 1964 shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas. Jonsson played a key role in the development and opening of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and he was a generous philanthropist.
As the driving force at Texas Instruments during the 1950s Jonsson led the company to become a leader in transistor technology. Under his direction much of the company’s resources were used for research after he acquired a license for using the Bell silicon transistor patent. This direction led to the major innovations at TI and its growth in the field over the years. Jonsson died in August 1995.