Charles Howard Vollum (May 31, 1913 – February 5, 1986) was an American electronics engineer, businessman, and philanthropist in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. He was the co-founder of

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent ...

Corporation, and endowed the Vollum Institute.

Background

Howard Vollum was born on May 31, 1913, in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

. He attended Portland's Catholic Columbia University (now University of Portland) from 1931 to 1933, then transferred to

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

in 1934, where, in 1936, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Physics. His undergraduate thesis was the creation of a new kind of cathode-ray

oscilloscope An oscilloscope (informally a scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying electrical voltages as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The main purposes are to display repetiti ...

. Upon graduation from college, he spent several years servicing and installing radios and experimenting with electronic devices. From 1940 to 1941 he was Supervisor of the Radio Project,

National Youth Administration The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal agency sponsored by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. It focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. It operated from June 26, 1935 to ...

, in Portland. Vollum served as an officer in 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, ...

Signal Corps from 1942 to 1946, serving in England and New Jersey on artillery fire control radar. He was later awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight u ...

for this work. He was awarded the

Howard N. Potts Medal The Howard N. Potts Medal was one of The Franklin Institute Awards for science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named for Howard N. Potts. The first Howard N. Potts Medal was awarded in ...

in 1973. Vollum died on February 5, 1986. His wife, Jean Vollum, continued to serve on the Tektronix board of directors until mandatory retirement at age 70, and continued philanthropy until her death in 2007. Vollum was survived by his five sons.

Tektronix

In 1946, Vollum co-founded

with Jack Murdock, becoming equal partners, along with Murdock's fellow former "coastie" Miles Tippery, and accountant Glenn McDowell. The company mission was stated in the articles of incorporation as "to install, repair, service and sell, purchase, manufacture and otherwise acquire and deal in radio and other instruments." By 1951, the company had 300 employees and sales of $4 million; by 1959, there were 3,000 employees with sales at $32 million. Tektronix had become the leading oscilloscopes and test equipment manufacturer, a position that held up until the 1970s. Vollum served as president of the company from 1946 until 1971. In 1978, Tektronix was lauded by authors Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz, et al, in their book, ''The 100 best companies to work for in America''.Levering, R, et al
''The 100 best companies to work for in America'', by Robert Levering, Milton Moskowitz, Michael Katz and Donald R. Katz, Penguin Group, USA, 1987. Retrieved 3 January 2018. He remained on its board of directors until his death, and was board chairman until 1984 and then vice chairman.

The Vollum Institute

Vollum's innate interest in science also drew him to the neuroscience laboratories at the

Oregon Health and Science University Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

(OHSU) where he knew his oscilloscope could be applied to healthcare research. He developed an interest in experiments measuring bio-electrical phenomena, and this ultimately provided his philanthropic motivation and led Vollum to endow an institute for advanced biomedical research at OHSU.

Other activities

Vollum supported many Oregon educational institutions, including

in Portland, which has a prominent academic building and student activity program named for him. Vollum helped found the

Oregon Graduate Institute The Oregon Graduate Center was a unique, private, postgraduate-only research university in Washington County, Oregon, on the west side of Portland, from 1963 to 2001. The center was renamed the Oregon Graduate Institute in 1989. The Institute me ...

(now part of OHSU), in 1965, with a $2 million grant and, upon his death in 1986, bequeathed $14.8 million to the college as an endowment. His will also included a $3.8 million bequest to the Catlin Gabel School. Howard and Jean Vollum also funded the construction of the Library Building at Mount Angel Abbey in Mt. Angel, Oregon; the award-winning building was one of very few structures in the United States designed by the Finnish architect

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, s ...

, and stands as a remarkable architectural accomplishment.

References

*Vollum interviewed by the Oregon Historical Society. The transcription is posted by their permission at
campevans.org

External links

OHSU Vollum Institute website Vollum Biography by Bill Hewlett on National Academy Press website
1913 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American engineers American electrical engineers American manufacturing businesspeople Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon Engineers from Oregon Howard N. Potts Medal recipients Mount Angel Seminary Oregon Graduate Institute people Oregon Health & Science University people Philanthropists from Oregon Recipients of the Legion of Merit Reed College alumni Tektronix people University of Portland alumni United States Army officers {{Danaher