It has been just over a year since Bob Pease perished in a car accident. I remember well the night I heard the news. It was late on Father’s Day and I was doing a routine check of my e-mail.
I read the message about Bob in stunned disbelief, I think even more so since it came right on the heels of the death of another analog giant, Jim Williams. As it turned out, the two losses were related, since Bob’s accident occurred on his way home from Jim’s memorial service.
A Large Archive
At Electronic Design, we had enough material from Bob to continue to publish his extraordinary column until the end of 2011. We finished the year with a column that Bob had sent to us years before, telling us to publish it as his final column. Was that the end for our readers? Heck, no.
First, we have included some of his classic work in our newsletters, such as “What’s All This Transimpedance Amplifier Stuff, Anyhow?” This column has gotten a tremendous response from our readers, and it’s the number one Pease Porridge THIS YEAR (in caps with respect to Bob’s writing style). Other popular columns that we have highlighted this year include:
- “What’s All This P-I-D Stuff, Anyhow?”
- “What’s All This Double-Clutching Stuff, Anyhow?”
- “What’s All This Negative Feedback Stuff, Anyhow?”
- “What’s All This Spicey Stuff, Anyhow? (Part II)”
- “Bob’s Mailbox: Audio Quality, A Crazy Rack, And The PE Exam”
- “What’s All This Input Impedance Stuff, Anyhow?”
- “What’s All This Current Limiter Stuff, Anyhow?”
Second, we’re adding older columns to our Web site. When we launched electronicdesign.com in 1998, we posted some of the magazine’s previous material, but nowhere near all of it, which stretches back 60 years now. But we made an exception for Pease Porridge, which debuted in 1990.
You can find almost all of Bob’s columns online, going back to the very first one, appropriately called “What’s All This Analog Stuff, Anyhow?” A few are missing, due to glitches as we moved from Web platform to Web platform over the past decade and a half. But we’re adding these lost gems as we find them. Check out Bob's Archive too.
Paul and Mark Remember
Paul Rako, former EDN analog editor and good friend of Bob, sent out an e-mail recently informing the analog community about a presentation about Bob and Jim by Analog Devices fellow Chris Mangelsdorf at the last ISSCC in February. There are fabulous photos in the presentation that you won’t want to miss. You can find it at here.
Mark Alden also sent me an e-mail titled “Bob Pease: Honoring an Analog Giant.” Mark is with Texas Instruments but was working for National Semiconductor when TI acquired it. Of course, Bob worked for National for many years.
On June 20, Mark wrote: “It’s been one year (and two days) since we lost a true giant of analog design. We all miss his wisdom and humor. Please honor Bob by posting a remembrance on this blog.”
Final Thoughts
Many of us have fond memories of Bob Pease. We may have met him in person, talked on the phone, wrote letters or e-mails, or just got to know him through his columns in Electronic Design. Readers would write him and he would answer, which made for especially interesting commentary in Electronic Design as Bob’s Mailbox.
I remember thinking what a big impact Bob had made on me. Even though I had met him in person only once, I communicated with him all the time by e-mail and phone. For a very busy guy, Bob never failed to communicate, whether with me, other editors on the staff, or with readers. This truly set him apart. He was a person with bountiful knowledge who wanted to share it with anyone who cared to ask.