John Erik Jonsson (6 September 1901 – 31 August 1995) was a co-founder and early president of

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...

Incorporated. He became

Mayor of Dallas The Mayor of the City of Dallas is the head of the Dallas City Council. The current mayor is Eric Johnson (Texas politician), Eric Johnson, who has served one term since 2019 Dallas mayoral election, 2019 and is the 62nd mayor to serve the posit ...

, a major advocate of the creation of

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Air ...

, and a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

in later years.

Biography

Early life

Erik Jonsson was born on 6 September 1901 in the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His parents, John Peter and Ellen Charlotte (Palmquist) Jonsson, were both born in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and independently migrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the prior decade. Both were naturalized citizens. Jonsson was an only child. The family moved in 1912 to Montclair,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, where at the age of sixteen Jonsson graduated from Montclair High School. He was a graduate of

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

(RPI), class of 1922 earning a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

, where he was a member of

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

. Jonsson married Margaret Fonde in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

on 8 February 1923 and together they had three children.

Business career

Jonsson began his career in 1922 at

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

as a

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

apprentice, and advanced to the position of manufacturing superintendent of an Alcoa subsidiary, the Aluminum Index Company. He held the position from 1923 to 1927. In 1927 he left Alcoa and entered the auto business attempting a

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

dealership, returning to Alcoa in 1929 as a sales engineer.

Geophysical Service Inc.

During Jonsson's last year at Alcoa,

J. Clarence Karcher John Clarence Karcher (April 15, 1894 – July 13, 1978) was an American geophysicist and businessman. He invented and eventually commercialized the reflection seismograph, applying for patents in 1919. By the patenting, and development of ref ...

, the husband of Mrs. Jonsson's cousin, occasionally asked Jonsson's assistance with expediting materials orders for a start-up company he had co-founded with petroleum geologists Eugene McDermott and Everette DeGolyer,

Geophysical Service Incorporated Geophysical Service Inc. (often abbreviated GSI) was founded by John Clarence Karcher and Eugene McDermott in 1930 for the purpose of using refraction and reflection seismology to explore for petroleum deposits. History On December 6, 1941, t ...

, a pioneering provider of

seismic exploration Reflection seismology (or seismic reflection) is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflected seismic waves. The method requires a controlled seismi ...

services to the

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

industry. In June 1930 Karcher offered Jonsson a job managing the manufacture of seismic instruments at Karcher's company lab in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. In 1934, Jonsson and his family moved to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

where GSI was now headquartered. Jonsson held the position of secretary of Geophysical Service, which gave him responsibility for all of the accounting, banking, international, legal, manufacturing, personnel, purchasing, and warehousing activities of the company. Jonsson held this position until 1939. In 1939, the company reorganized as Coronado Corp., an oil company with Geophysical Service Inc (GSI), now as a subsidiary. Jonsson became secretary-treasurer in 1939 as part of the reorganization. On 6 December 1941, Jonsson along with three other GSI employees,

Eugene McDermott Eugene McDermott (February 12, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York - August 23, 1973 in Dallas, Texas) was an engineer and geophysicist who co-founded Geophysical Service Incorporated (GSI) in 1930 and later its parent company Texas Instruments in 1951. On ...

Cecil H. Green Cecil Howard Green (August 6, 1900 – April 11, 2003) was a British-born American geophysicist, electrical engineer, and electronics manufacturing executive, who trained at the University of British Columbia and the Massachusetts Institute of Tec ...

, and H.B. Peacock purchased GSI. In 1942, he became vice president and treasurer. He held this position until 1951. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, GSI built

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Signal Corps and the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

. After the war, GSI continued to produce electronics. The rugged nature of equipment for the oil industry and of military equipment were similar and thus continued expansion into military contracts was a natural progression.

Texas Instruments

In 1951, the Geophysical Service changed its name to

; GSI becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the new company. Jonsson became president of Texas Instruments, a position he held until 1958. Jonsson was elected chairman of the board in 1958 and held this position until 1966. He became honorary chairman in 1966 through 1977. Under Jonsson's leadership, TI invented the integrated circuit in 1958, the electronic hand held calculator in 1967, and the single chip microcomputer in 1971."Jonsson", ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', Fort Worth, Texas, pg. 66, 2 September 1995

Civic activities

Jonsson was a strong advocate for education, serving or leading on the boards of many educational institutions and created alliances to improve local educational facilities. Jonsson was a founder of the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies, which became the

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas. It is one of the largest public universities in the Dallas area and the northernmost institution of the University of Texas system. It wa ...

in 1969. Jonsson was the first president of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, as well as president of the powerful civic group, the Dallas Citizen's Council. It was Mr.Jonsson's unhappy task to take the podium November 22, 1963, at the former Dallas Trade Mart to inform the waiting crowd of the motorcade shooting of President Kennedy and Governor Connally. Video/audio footage of this briefing exists. In 1964, shortly after the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

in Dallas of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, Jonsson became mayor of Dallas, Texas on February 3, 1964, completing the term of Mayor

Earle Cabell Earle Cabell (October 27, 1906 – September 24, 1975) was a Texas politician who served as mayor of Dallas, Texas. Cabell was mayor at the time of the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy and was later a member of the U.S. H ...

who had resigned to run for Congress. Elected to three additional terms, he worked to improve morale and the image of the city. Jonsson pushed through a $175 million bond that financed a new

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, the

Dallas Convention Center The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center (KBHCCD) (formerly Dallas Convention Center) is a convention center in the Convention Center District of downtown Dallas, Texas. The "Dallas Memorial Auditorium" was a standalone multipurpose arena, de ...

and the Dallas Central Library. He was a central leader in the development of

, and served as its first board chairman. Jonsson died of pneumonia at his home on 31 August 1995 and was buried at Dallas's Sparkman Hillcrest Memorial Park.Died at home of pneumonia in "Obituaries, J. Erik Jonsson", ''Tampa Bay Times'', Tampa Bay, Florida, pg. 4, 3 September 1995 Memorial services attended by several ex-Mayors of Dallas were held for him on September 5 at Dallas's Highland Park United Methodist Church."Skidmore Benefactor Dies", ''The Post-Star'', Glen Falls, New York, pg. 11, 2 September 1995

Legacy

Several facilities bear Jonsson's name in recognition of his contributions. These include the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in

, and the well-known Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the

Richardson Richardson may refer to: People * Richardson (surname), an English and Scottish surname * Richardson Gang, a London crime gang in the 1960s * Richardson Dilworth, Mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962) Places Australia * Richardson, Australian Cap ...

. A trustee of

, he helped fund major campus improvements, leading the institute to name the

Jonsson Engineering Center The Jonsson Engineering Center (often simply referred to as the JEC), is home to the School of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. It is named for J. Erik Jonsson and was dedicated on 7 October 1977. Background ...

and Jonsson-Rowland Science Center in his honor. Along with two other founders of Texas Instruments, Cecil H. Green and

, Jonsson helped found the Excellence in Education Foundation which contributed $30 million to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1991. The J. Erik Jonsson Center of the National Academy of Sciences, overlooking Quissett Harbor in Woods Hole on Cape Cod, is also named in honor of Jonsson. He also served as a trustee of Margaret's alma mater

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in one of more than 60 areas of study. History Sk ...

in Saratoga Springs, New York. Although founded in 1912, Skidmore started a new campus of which the Jonssons largely funded construction in the 1960s.

References

External links

From Skidmore College

J. Erik Jonsson papers, 1881-1995 digital collection
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University {{DEFAULTSORT:Jonsson, J. Erik 1901 births 1995 deaths American people of Swedish descent Mayors of Dallas Montclair High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Brooklyn People from Montclair, New Jersey Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty Texas Instruments people Businesspeople from Texas Texas Republicans 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American politicians Henry Laurence Gantt Medal recipients Engineers from New York City Engineers from New Jersey 20th-century American engineers