Thomas Bruggere | |
---|---|
Born | [1] Berkeley, California, U.S. [1] | February 18, 1946
Education | Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, University of California, Santa Barbara (1968); [1] Masters of Science in Computer Science, University of Wisconsin (1972); Masters of Business Administration, Pepperdine University (1975). |
Occupation(s) | computer software and engineering |
Known for | founder of Mentor Graphics [1] |
Political party | Democratic |
Tom Bruggere (born February 18, 1946, in Berkeley, California [1] ) is an American entrepreneur and politician from Oregon. He founded the company Mentor Graphics and has been involved with several other startup companies. He was the Democratic party nominee for the 1996 United States Senate election in Oregon.
Tom Bruggere was born in Berkeley, California. [1] [2] He stated of his early life that he "grew up with a picture of Jack and Bobby Kennedy over [his] bed." [3]
He has a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a Masters of Science in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, and a Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University. [4] He served in the Army in the Vietnam War, from 1968 to 1970. [1] [4] Prior to running for office, he served on several government boards, including the Oregon State Board of Higher Education. [4]
Bruggere was an engineer with Burroughs Corporation Medium Systems Plant in Pasadena, California, in the early to mid-1970s, then with Tektronix, Inc. in the late 1970s.
He is Protestant. [1]
Bruggere founded Mentor Graphics, a Tektronix spinoff, [5] in 1981. A 1991 article in Oregon Business magazine stated: "One of [Tektronix'] main contributions to Oregon has been the many companies that spun off from former employees," citing the success of Bruggere and a number of other creative former Tektronix employees with Mentor Graphics as the prime example. [6] He was one of the people credited with founding the Oregon Center for Advanced Technology Education and served as chairman of the center in the early 2000s. [7] [8] Mentor Graphics is credited with having established the industry of electronic design automation. [6] He resigned as president and CEO in October 1993, and was succeeded in both roles by Wally Rhines. [9] Upon leaving Mentor Graphics, he cited a desire "to do something else, something in public policy." [3]
Bruggere won the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat vacated by the retiring Mark Hatfield in 1996. Spending $800,000 of his own money in the primary race, [10] he was one of 134 candidates for the U.S. Congress to finance their own elections in excess of $50,000 in that cycle. [11]
Bruggere's Republican opponent, Gordon Smith, was also heavily self-financed, having spent $2.5 million of his own money earlier that same year in an unsuccessful effort to defeat Democrat Ron Wyden in the special election to replace Bob Packwood, who had resigned. [10]
In the general election race, most Oregon daily newspapers endorsed Smith over Bruggere. [12] Bruggere lost a close election to Smith, with neither side claiming victory for several days after the election, when absentee ballots were tallied. [13]
Bruggere was the founding Chairman of Stamps.com and Sensoria. [14] He resigned from the Stamps.com board in October 2000. [15] [16]
He has also served on the boards of Will Vinton Studios, OpenMarket, and Sirigen and on the advisory boards of Mercy Corps [14] and of the Technology Management Program at UCSB. [2]
As of 2011, he was part of the management team of 13therapeutics, a biotech spin-off of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). [17]
Mentor Graphics Corporation was a US-based electronic design automation (EDA) multinational corporation for electrical engineering and electronics, headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon. Founded in 1981, the company distributed products that assist in electronic design automation, simulation tools for analog mixed-signal design, VPN solutions, and fluid dynamics and heat transfer tools. The company leveraged Apollo Computer workstations to differentiate itself within the computer-aided engineering (CAE) market with its software and hardware.
Theodore Ralph Kulongoski is an American politician, judge, and lawyer who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly and also served as the state Insurance Commissioner. He was the Attorney General of Oregon from 1993 to 1997 and a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1997 to 2001. Kulongoski has served in all three branches of the Oregon state government.
Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served eight years as Governor of Oregon, followed by 30 years as one of its United States senators, including time as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A native Oregonian, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II after graduating from Willamette University. After the war he earned a graduate degree from Stanford University before returning to Oregon and Willamette as a professor.
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 company, it is now a subsidiary of Fortive, a spinoff from Danaher Corporation.
The 1996 United States Senate elections were held on November 5, 1996, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. They coincided with the presidential election of the same year, in which Democrat Bill Clinton was re-elected president.
The 1990 United States Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. The Democratic Party increased its majority with a net gain of one seat from the Republican Party. The election cycle took place in the middle of President George H. W. Bush's term, and as with most other midterm elections, the party not holding the presidency gained seats in Congress. This was the first time since 1980 that any party successfully defended all their own seats, and the first time Democrats did so since 1958.
The 1966 United States Senate elections were elections on November 8, 1966, for the United States Senate which occurred midway through the second term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The 33 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. With divisions in the Democratic base over the Vietnam War, and with the traditional mid-term advantage of the party not holding the presidency, the Republicans took three Democratic seats, thereby breaking Democrats' 2/3rds supermajority. Despite Republican gains, the balance remained overwhelmingly in favor of the Democrats, who retained a 64–36 majority. Democrats were further reduced to 63–37, following the death of Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968.
Walter Leslie AuCoin is an American politician. In 1974 he became the first person from the Democratic Party to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's 1st congressional district, since it was formed in 1892. The seat has been held by Democrats ever since.
Gordon Harold Smith is an American politician, businessman, and academic administrator who served as a United States Senator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Senate from 1997 to 2009. On September 18, 2009, he was appointed president of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). As of 2024, he is the last Republican to represent Oregon in the U.S. Senate.
Delbert W. Yocam is an American businessman who was CEO and chairman of Borland, former president, COO and director of Tektronix and a former Apple Computer executive. At Apple, during the 1980s, Yocam ran the Apple II group and later became Apple's first chief operating officer (COO). He served on the board of directors at Adobe Systems.
The Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) was a conservative Christian political activist organization, founded by Lon Mabon in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was founded in 1986 as a vehicle to challenge then–U.S. Senator Bob Packwood in the Republican primaries, and was involved in Oregon politics from the late 1980s into the 1990s.
Merix Corporation was an American printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer based in Beaverton, Oregon. Prior to a merger in 2010 with Viasystems, the company had been the 31st largest public company in Oregon based on market capitalization as of 2006. The company is now part of TTM Technologies.
Floyd Prozanski is an American Democratic politician who is a current member of the Oregon State Senate, representing the 4th District, since 2004. He previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives, from 1995 through 2000 and again for the 2003 session. He resigned from the House in December 2003 to accept appointment to the Senate seat that had been vacated by Tony Corcoran. He won election to the seat in November 2004.
Bruce Starr is an American politician and businessman in Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives before winning election to the Oregon State Senate in 2002. There he joined his father Senator Charles Starr and they became the first father-son team to serve at the same time in Oregon's Senate. Bruce had previously been a member of the Hillsboro City Council, and was re-elected to the Senate in 2006 and 2010, but lost a bid in 2012 to be the Oregon Labor Commissioner.
Chuck Riley is an American politician who served as a member of the Oregon State Senate for the 15th district, which includes Hillsboro, Forest Grove, and Cornelius in western Washington County. He served three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011.
The 1996 United States Senate election in Oregon was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Republican United States Senator Mark Hatfield decided to retire after thirty years in the Senate. Oregon State Senate President Gordon H. Smith, who had run for the Senate earlier that year, won the Republican primary, while businessman Tom Bruggere won a contested Democratic primary. The contest between Smith and Bruggere was one of the toughest that year, but ultimately, Smith was able to keep the seat in the Republican column and defeated Bruggere by a narrow margin. This is the last time that a Senate candidate was elected to the United States Senate in Oregon at the same time that a presidential candidate of the opposite party won Oregon.
The 1992 United States Senate election in Oregon was held on November 3, 1992. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Bob Packwood won re-election to his fifth term. As of 2024, this is the last time the Republicans won the Class 3 U.S. Senate seat in Oregon.
Harold K. Lonsdale was an American scientist, businessman, and politician. A Democrat, he ran for United States Senate in the U.S. state of Oregon three times, losing twice in the primaries and once as the Democratic candidate, losing in the 1990 general election to incumbent Republican Mark Hatfield. In 2011 Lonsdale sponsored a research challenge to determine the origin of life on Earth.
The 1990 Oregon United States Senate election was held on November 6, 1990, to select the U.S. Senator from the state of Oregon. Republican candidate Mark Hatfield was re-elected to a fifth term, defeating Democratic businessman Harry Lonsdale.
The 1966 Oregon United States Senate election was held on November 6, 1966 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of Oregon. Incumbent Senator Maurine Brown Neuberger did not seek re-election. Held during the escalation of United States involvement of the Vietnam War, the race was between Republican candidate and incumbent Governor of Oregon Mark Hatfield, who opposed the war, and Democratic congressman Robert B. Duncan, who supported the war. In an unusual move, Oregon's other Senator, Democrat Wayne Morse, who also opposed the war, crossed party lines to endorse Hatfield, who won in a close election, his first of five terms in the United States Senate.