David Freeman loved sharing his knowledge of power management not just to TI, but to power design engineers around the world. He will be missed.
Sad news occurred the weekend of June 27th with the loss of David Freeman a Texas Instruments Fellow and CTO for its high-voltage power business. Dave passed away after a lengthy illness. Our heartfelt condolences to his family.
Many in the power electronics industry knew Dave as an affable, easy going, leader and key technologist who focused on the development and design of innovative semiconductor technology to dramatically increase energy efficiency and simplify power design. His 40-year career always focused on energy sources and energy management. He started his career in petroleum exploration where he worked in both field laboratories and research labs developing techniques for drilling optimization as well as measurement methods and equipment for fluid, electrical and mineralogical properties. After 15 years, he moved to semiconducting technology where he helped start Benchmarq Microelectronics and served as director of systems and applications. Benchmarq was noted for their battery management semiconductor products. In 1998, Unitrode Corporation, a leader in power management, acquired Benchmarq, and David became the systems and application director for the combined company. In 1999, Texas Instruments acquired Unitrode and David became the applications manager for TI power products. He was instrumental in starting TI’s digital power development where products were developed for digital control of power technology that intelligently monitors and controls power supplies used in end-equipment, such as computing, servers and telecommunications systems. In this role, he defined and developed specialized microcontroller peripherals that are optimized for power applications to digitally control and manage power systems. He helped establish TI’s Power and Energy Systems Lab inside of TI’s Kilby Research Laboratories and helped start TI’s High Voltage Power Solutions business as CTO.
David was a popular expert in his field who presented at many conferences around the world, including in the U.S., Europe, China and Japan. He wrote multiple technical papers and a monthly column in a publication targeted to electrical engineers. A member of IEEE and with 15 patents, he contributed hundreds of successful innovations, from battery management to digital power design. His engaging personality and his dedication to power electronics not just at TI, but to power design engineers around the world will be sorely missed.
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