Gary Otto Heerssen

Gary Otto Heerssen Gary Otto Heerssen passed away at Seton Medical Center in Austin on December 20, 2004 after a courageous battle with leukemia. Gary was born to Otto A. and Marie Heerssen on October 4, 1946 in Yoakum, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&I University with a BS degree in Physics. He worked at Texas Instruments for 15 years as an engineer, engineering manager, and operations manager. While with Texas Instruments, he met and married his wife Nancy in 1974. Gary left TI and joined Fairchild Semiconductor in 1983 where he was responsible for BiCMOS development and the Memory and High Speed Logic Division in Puyallup, Washington. In 1986, Gary joined Advanced Micro Devices in Austin and reached the position of Senior Vice President of Corporate Manufacturing. Gary was seen as a visionary by his colleagues and was instrumental in evolving AMD into a world-class manufacturing entity. Gary’s Journey to Excellence Program led to a wealth of technology advances while reinforcing career growth and employee development. His personal commitment to the Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM) organization was both advancing AMD’s fab operations model and securing AMD’s leadership in wafer fabrication technologies. Gary was the epitome of corporate values and was an inspiration to all who knew him. Gary’s distinctive leadership, counsel, and friendship will be missed by his colleagues and friends across the world, and by all that had the privilege of knowing him. Gary was one of the two founders of the Austin Area Semiconductor Executive Council which is one of the most successful industry/education partnerships in Texas. In this capacity, he helped shape thousands of successful careers. He also was a member of the International SEMATECH advisory board and on the board of directors for the AMD subsidiary, Spansion, LLC. Gary was a member of the advisory committee of the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas and also served on the boards of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and the Elizabeth Ann Seton Fund. He was a former member of the board of directors for the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. Gary is survived by his wife Nancy and his brother Harvey Heerssen. A memorial service will be held on Friday, January 14, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. at Remembrance Gardens at Riverbend. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Gary’s favorite charity, the Seton Fund, or to the charity of your choice. As the family of Gary Heerssen, we want to thank Dr. Demetrius Loukas and his staff at the Southwest Regional Cancer Center, Dr. Carlos Bachier, the Bone Marrow Transplant Team in San Antonio, and the entire staff of Seton Hospital for the expert care Gary received during his illness. Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, Texas 78705 (512) 452-8811. You may view memorials and guestbook online at wcfish.com