Bernard Vonderschmitt, 80; Engineer Researched Semiconductors

Bernard V. Vonderschmitt, 80, an electrical engineer who pioneered research into semiconductors, died June 9 at his home in Jasper, Ind. The cause of death was complications from a stroke, according to a spokesman for Xilinx Inc., the Silicon Valley-firm that Vonderschmitt co-founded.

Vonderschmitt began his career as an electrical engineer in the semiconductor industry at RCA, where he received the David Sarnoff award for his contribution to the invention of color television. But after more than two decades with RCA, he left in 1979, believing that the firm had lost interest in cutting-edge technology.

He returned to college and earned an MBA at Rider University. Upon graduating, he moved to the Silicon Valley. He worked initially for Zilog Inc., a tiny semiconductor chip-making subsidiary of Exxon Corp.

In 1984, he and two colleagues raised $4.25 million in venture capital and started Xilinx Inc. to produce a new class of semiconductor chips that could be programmed by a customer after it was manufactured.

Vonderschmitt eventually became chairman and chairman emeritus of the firm before retiring in the 1990s.

Raised on a farm in Indiana, Vonderschmitt served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he earned an electrical engineering degree at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.