I am heartbroken to learn of the passing of long time Intel CEO and Chairman Andrew Grove. In thirty-five years of covering hi-tech, Andy was my hands down favorite CEO. I first met Andy when I was covering Intel for ABC News. Over the years we had lots of chats and we didn’t always see eye to eye. When he first yelled at me in his office during a heated discussion over something that now seems totally irrelevant, I turned to his head of Public Relations, Pam Pollace and said, “he must hate me.” Pam’s response, “No, he likes you, otherwise he wouldn’t waste his time arguing with you.”
I’m sure you’ll be able to read a boatload about all of Andy’s great accomplishments, beginning with this New York Times story. I think the most astonishing thing to me was 
that Dr. Grove took a chip company and made it into a household name. I mean we’d all heard about IBM, Apple, and Microsoft. But who knew from the chips inside? Andy. And today almost everyone knows, “Intel Inside.” His management style was unique and has been widely quoted, beginning with the book, “Only the Paranoid Survive.”
But my relationship with Andy Grove was more personal. One year, when multimedia computing was just taking off, I was once again covering the now defunct Comdex computer show in Las Vegas. My assignment from ABC News was to produce a piece about the culture of Comdex, what with its miles of aisles, it’s Chile Cook-Off, and Spencer the Katt parties. So I sat down for an on-camera interview with Andy to talk about Intel’s role in the culture of Comdex. There was no surprise here. That’s what the interview was supposed to be about. But no matter what question I asked, Andy only wanted to talk about multimedia computing. A week later when the piece aired, I only used a seven second soundbite from him. He was not happy. But the ever present Pam Pollace, who could survive chastising him, reminded him that he just wouldn’t stay on topic.
Fast forward several months and Andy comes to New York where we did a full length two-camera interview with him for the ABC News Business World program. It was a solid interview. Two days later when I walked into my office there was a small box. In it was an Intel tie (designed from an Intel chip). The note in the box read, “This is a full length tie for a full length interview. Imagine what I would have sent you for seven seconds.” It was signed simply, A.S. Grove.
I will miss you terribly. But God is getting a great sparring partner.
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