Larry’s Send Off
This past Friday was Larry Heyl’s last day at Apple. Larry’s one of the veteran engineers in our group. I never had the chance of working closely with Larry, but it was clear the stature he had in our team. He, Doug, and Wendell were our brain trust — three engineers who were at the forefront when the modern day Silicon Valley was being born in the labs of the original semiconductor companies. Between the three of them, they brought over 100 years of design experience to our small team.
I’m fuzzy on the dates, but I think Larry started at Apple very early, in the early 1980s. He was part of the first Mac team and I think he worked on a wide variety of projects. He was part of the iPod team when it first started, bringing expertise in audio electronics in particular. To celebrate, Dan organized a group outing to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. It was my first time visiting, and I couldn’t think of a better visit. The other young members of our group just followed Larry, Doug, and Wendell around and listened to their stories. It’s amazing, they still knew the designs of the artifacts in the museum, knew the people who made them, and heck — even built some of the computers on display.
Larry points to the original Mac laptop he worked on.
Before we left, we got to see Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2. Babbage built the first mechanical computers, and the Computer History Museum is fortunate to have one of two working replicas ever built in the world. It’s a stunning work. The scale is hard to see, but this is as tall as I am.
Back in Cupertino, we had a small party at BJ’s to toast Larry. There, Doug unveiled one of the most stunning plaques I’ve ever seen. We were all wondering what Doug was up to — getting our pictures and signatures the past week, and mysteriously going around rounding up old iPods. Everyone in the room was amazed by it…
Larry worked on every single iPod the team put out.
That’s how the iPod Hardware Engineering Team sends off one of its own. Be well and enjoy your retirement, Larry!