Michael J. Birck (January 25, 1938 – July 6, 2015) was a co-founder and chairman of

Tellabs Tellabs, Inc. is a global network technology provider that providing services to both private and governmental agencies. History Tellabs traces its roots to a meeting in 1974 over a kitchen table in suburban Chicago. According to company founder ...

Inc. He began his career at Bell Telephone Laboratories, and helped found Tellabs in 1975. He served as the CEO of the company from 2002 to 2004. He was a philanthropist and a member of the Alumni Association at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

Biography

Birck was born January 25, 1938, in Missoula, Montana, and grew up in Clinton, Indiana. He received a BSEE degree at

in 1960 and an MSEE degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in 1962. Birck began his career on the technical staff at

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

’s Bell Telephone Laboratories. He went on to manage the Transmission System Design Department at Continental Telephone Laboratories. He was director of engineering at Wescom Inc. from 1968 to 1975. Birck and five other electrical engineers and salesmen came up with the idea for Tellabs in 1975. He was Chief Executive Officer of Tellabs from 2002 to 2004. Birck died on July 6, 2015 at the age of 77.

Sports endeavors

Birck came to the public's attention in 1999 when the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

football team appeared to be up for sale. A radio show host on WSCR made the suggestion that Birck should buy the team. Birck told the Chicago Sun-Times: "It was kind of amusing. Some guy on The Score said, 'How about that Mike Birck guy? He ought to be able to buy the Bears.'" Birck decided not to buy the team. Birck was pitcher at Purdue University. He funded the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, named after him by Purdue University, and donated $5 million to the renovation of the University’s Mackey Arena in 2008. Birck has also made contributions to Purdue University, Benedictine University, Loyola University, and Hinsdale Hospital, among others.

Academic endeavors

Birck is past chairman of the Purdue Alumni Foundation Board and is a trustee of Purdue University. He has been a director at the Purdue Research Foundation and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the

Krannert School of Management The Krannert School of Management is the school of management at Purdue University, a public research university in West Lafayette, Indiana. It offers instruction at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. History The School of Ind ...

. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Benedictine University and of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy Fund Board.

Honors

He was inducted into the Chicago Business Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was honored as a 2001 recipient of the

IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Recognition Through its awards program, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers recognizes contributions that advance the fields of interest to the IEEE. For nearly a century, the IEEE Awards Program has paid tribute to technical professionals ...

award. In 2003, the Electronic Industries Alliance presented him with the Medal of Honor Award for his achievements and leadership in the U.S. telecommunications industry. Purdue and Benedictine University have awarded him honorary doctorate degrees. He received the Illinois High Tech Entrepreneur award from Peat Marwick and Mitchell/

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in 1984 and the Outstanding Master Entrepreneur award by

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and

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in 1995.

References

External links

Tellabs biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birck, Michael 1938 births 2015 deaths American chairpersons of corporations American corporate directors American technology company founders People from Missoula, Montana People from Clinton, Indiana Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni Purdue University College of Engineering alumni