John Erik Jonsson (6 September 1901 – 31 August 1995) was a co-founder and early president of Texas Instruments Incorporated. He became Mayor of Dallas, a major advocate of the creation of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, 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 borough of New York City. 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 in the prior decade. Both were naturalized citizens. Jonsson was an only child. The family moved in 1912 to Montclair, New Jersey, 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, 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 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 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 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, a pioneering provider of seismic exploration services to the petroleum industry. In June 1930 Karcher offered Jonsson a job managing the manufacture of seismic instruments at Karcher's company lab in Newark, New Jersey, and in July Jonsson again left Alcoa. In 1934, Jonsson and his family moved to Dallas, Texas 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, GSI built electronics for the United States Army Signal Corps and the Navy. 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 Texas Instruments; 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 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 ...

, which became the University of Texas at Dallas 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 John F. Kennedy, Jonsson became mayor of Dallas, Texas on February 3, 1964, completing the term of Mayor Earle Cabell 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 Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, 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 The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library is the Main Library Branch of the Dallas Public Library system. It is located at 1515 Young Street in the Government District of downtown Dallas, Texas, directly across from Dallas City Hall. About The stru ...

in Dallas, and the well-known Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas in

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 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 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