Bill Hewlett

• Born in 1913, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, William R. Hewlett was known as "Bill" within HP and the electronics industry. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Stanford university in 1934, and completed a masters degree in electronic engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936. He then returned to Stanford to complete an engineering degree in 1939. Hewlett met Packard in engineering class, and the two formed a company to produce an audio oscillator that Hewlett had designed in graduate school. The two set up in a garage, which is now a Palo Alto landmark, with $538 in capital. In 1983, Hewlett received the National Medal of Science, the highest U.S. award for scientific work.
  
  

David Packard

• David Packard was born in Pueblo, Colorado, in 1912. He studied with Hewlett at Stanford and in 1939 received a master's degree in electrical engineering from the university. Between 1936 and 1938, Packard worked at General Electric Co. in Schenectady, New York, before returning to Palo Alto to team up with former classmate, Hewlett. He became president of the company when it incorporated in 1947, and managed the company while Hewlett was in the military during World War 2. Packard left HP for a brief time from 1969 to 1971 to take up the post of U.S. Deputy Director of Defense. When he returned to California he was made HP's chairman. In 1993, he retired as chairman, but served as chairman emeritus until his death in 1996.
  
  

The HP Way

• In 1995, a year before his death, Packard published his book "The HP Way." In it he describes the management style and company culture at HP that is credited by some with influencing the way other Silicon Valley companies developed. According to Hewlett's obituary, both he and Packard disliked unnecessary formality and hierarchies in companies. As a result, HP became known for its creative culture that encouraged personal initiative. Employees were permitted to work on personal ideas on company premises. Hewlett and Packard believed this encouraged engineers to be innovative. They also embraced a people-oriented management style, which included profit sharing for all employees.
  
  

Philanthropy

• Both men set up charitable foundations: the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which supports social and environmental causes, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which supports programs in the areas of conservation science, reproductive health and the lives of children and families globally. The Packards funded three professorships at Stanford in the fields of business, marine science and literature. Hewlett and Packard together funded the Terman Fellows program at Stanford, which provides research funding to young science and engineering professors.