Steven R. Appleton (March 31, 1960 – February 3, 2012) was the CEO of Micron Technology, based in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

. Born and raised in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Appleton attended

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding ...

, where he was on the tennis team. A lifelong aviation enthusiast, he died when his single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Boise, Idaho, on February 3, 2012.

Career

Appleton started his career at Micron shortly after graduation in 1983, working the night shift in production. He held a variety of positions in the company, including Wafer Fab manager, production manager, director of manufacturing, and vice president of manufacturing before being appointed president and COO in 1991. He was appointed to the position of CEO and chairman of the board in 1994 at age 34. In January 1996, he was fired and then rehired 8 days later. He formerly served on the board of directors for

SEMATECH SEMATECH (from Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) is a not-for-profit consortium that performs research and development to advance chip manufacturing. SEMATECH has broad engagement with various sectors of the R&D community, including chipm ...

, the Idaho State Supreme Court Advisory Council, and was appointed by the Clinton Administration to serve on the National Semiconductor Technology Council. At the time of his death, he was serving on the board of directors for the

Semiconductor Industry Association The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is a trade association and lobbying group founded in 1977 that represents the United States semiconductor industry. It is located in Washington, D.C. One of the main achievements of the SIA was the c ...

, and the board of directors for National Semiconductor Corporation, The U.S. Technology CEO Council, and was a member of the World Semiconductor Council and the Idaho Business Council. After his death,

Mark Durcan D. Mark Durcan (born April 28, 1961) is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Micron Technology. Prior to being appointed Micron's CEO in February 2012, he held a variety of positions including process integration engineer, process integratio ...

assumed Appleton's position as CEO of

Micron The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Un ...

. In 2011 he received the Robert Noyce Award from the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Personal life

Appleton participated in a number of sports, including professional tennis. His hobbies included scuba diving, surfing, wakeboarding, motorcycling, and more recently, off-road car racing. His aviation background included multiple ratings and professional performances at air shows in both propeller and jet-powered aircraft. He also had a black belt in

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

. On the 43rd edition of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 on 2010, Appleton finished 1st on a

SCORE Class 1 SCORE Class 1 is an open-wheel unlimited-class that competes in the SCORE off-road race series including the Baja 1000, Baja 500, San Felipe 250 and the SCORE Desert Challenge. Class 1 is defined as an unlimited four-wheel single and two-sea ...

buggy and 7th overall with a time of 20:32.18. He was married to his wife Dalynn, and had 4 children.

Death

On February 3, 2012, Appleton was killed while attempting an emergency landing in a Lancair IV-PT experimental-category, four-seat, turboprop airplane at the

Boise Airport Boise Airport (Boise Air Terminal or Gowen Field) is a joint civil-military airport in the western United States, south of downtown Boise in Ada County, Idaho. The airport is operated by the city of Boise Department of Aviation and is oversee ...

, moments after taking off. He had aborted a take off a few minutes earlier for unknown reasons. Eight years earlier in 2004 with a passenger aboard and several miles south of the same airport, Appleton had a serious plane crash piloting an

Extra 300 The Extra Flugzeugbau EA300 is a two-seat aerobatic monoplane capable of Unlimited category competition. It was designed in 1987 by Walter Extra, a German aerobatic pilot, and built by Extra Flugzeugbau. Design and development Design of th ...

; he sustained a punctured lung, head injuries, ruptured disk, and broken bones. The passenger was a Micron employee and was also injured; he was photographing Appleton for an upcoming corporate presentation.

References

External links

2006 Q&A with USA Today about tennis and leadership
{{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, Steve 1960 births 2012 deaths Accidental deaths in Idaho American computer businesspeople American technology chief executives Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Boise State Broncos men's tennis players Businesspeople from California People from Boise, Idaho Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2012 20th-century American businesspeople