Van Bryant Shahan

Van Bryant Shahan (59) died in Austin, Texas July 30, 2010 after a stroke. He was born and raised in San Angelo, graduated from Central High School in 1969 and graduated from The University of Texas in 1979 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He was recruited by Silicon Valley but he loved Austin and made his entire career with Motorola and later its spin-off, Freescale Semiconductor. Regarded by peers as “an engineer’s engineer” Van became a microprocessor chip designer, leading design teams designing pioneering chips for many, many devices that changed the world, such as the first Apple Macintosh computer. He was granted many patents during his lifetime and has been described as “an absolute legend at Motorola/Freescale and the chip design community.” He acted as a mentor to many young engineers and was famous for his no-nonsense delivery, opinions and dead straight honesty. One colleague said a customer once thought that Motorola/Freescale was lying on a negotiation because it just happened that they didn’t have Van in the room. Van had the most amazing memory we had ever witnessed. He is survived by his brother, Reed Shahan of San Angelo, Texas; daughters, Kelsey and Tracy Shahan of Austin, Texas; niece Jessica Shahan of Dallas, Texas as well as other family and loved ones.

A Memorial Service will be held outdoors at 12:30 p.m., on Saturday, August 7th at Remembrance Gardens at Riverbend on Capital of Texas Highway Austin, Texas. A reception following the service will be held in the Quad 5 building across that same campus. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to the Van Shahan Engineering Scholarship Fund c/o San Angelo Area Foundation, 2201 Sherwood Way Suite 205, San Angelo, Texas 76901 Condolences may be sent to www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com.