SAN FRANCISCO—Robert M. Gardner, a longtime EDA executive and a former director of the EDA Consortium (EDAC) trade group, died Tuesday (April 11) after a short illness. He was 74.
Garder was a member of Verific Design Automation’s board of directors since its inception in 1999. In 2008, he co-founded Missing Link Electronics and was its president and CEO at the time of his death.
Gardner served as the executive director of EDAC (now called the Electronic System Design Alliance) from 2007 to 2015. Prior to the appointment, Garnder served as EDAC’s treasurer and chief financial officer for 10 years.
Robert M. Gardner
Gardner was awarded the DATE Fellow Award by the Design Automation and Test in Europe (DATE) Conference and Exhibit last year in recognition of his long association with EDAC and DATE.
During his 50-year career in electronics, Gardner held senior management positions at chip and EDA companies including Signetics/Philips, AMD, Exemplar Logic, Design Acceleration, Bridges2Silicon, and ITeX.
A resident of San Jose, Calif., Gardner was also active in instrumental music education and performances in Silicon Valley. He also was an avid sailor/yacht racer.
Gardner graduated from California Polytechnic College in Pomona with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1965.
He is survived by his wife Monique; son Scott and his wife Sarah and children Zoe and Reese; daughter Lauree Walker and her husband Tim and their children Luke and Lily.
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