Gary Burrell, cofounder of navigation gadget company Garmin, died on Wednesday, June 12.
Gary Burrell, who cofounded Global Positioning System navigation company Garmin with billionaire Min Kao, died on Wednesday, June 12, his company announced. He was 81.
“Gary Burrell has been my friend, mentor and partner for more than 30 years,” Kao, who is executive chairman and worth $3.8 billion, said in a statement. “His vision, values, engineering skills and commitment to serving our customers have been the foundation for the growth of our company. It has been both a great privilege and a blessing to have known this amazing man and I know his legacy will live on.”
Burrell, who retired as co-CEO of Garmin in 2002 and as co-chairman in 2004, was worth $1.8 billion at his peak in 2014. He remained chairman emeritus, but dropped from the billionaire ranks in 2016 after transferring much of his shares to his wife and son and charitable trusts. His son Jonathan sits on the board and together with his mother holds a nearly 8% stake worth approximately $1.1 billion.
In the early 1980s, when Burrell was working for aerospace and engineering firm Allied Signal, the engineering world was abuzz with talk of the federal government building a new tracking device using satellite technology. In 1989 Allied Signal cut its research budget, and Burrell and his colleague Kao, a Taiwanese engineer who had developed the first GPS receiver for planes, thought the military-grade technology would be a hit in the consumer market. Over dinner at a Red Lobster in Olathe, Kansas, the two decided to pursue a business venture together. Garmin, which is a portmanteau of the founders’ first names, was born.
“I asked Gary if he had ever thought about starting his own business, and he said he hadn’t,” Kao told Forbes in 2003. “He was probably half-joking, but he then said that he would only start a company with me.”
The duo emptied their savings accounts and raised money from friends and family. With $4 million, they hired engineers and opened up shop in Lenexa, Kansas, and started developing the first consumer GPS products for the consumer market. Their first product, which became a huge hit, was a GPS device for boats.
By 2000, they took Garmin public. Burrell and Kao, who ran the business as co-CEOs, together had about a 50% ownership stake in Garmin, and their fortunes grew along with Garmin’s stock price. They first appeared on Forbes’ list of Richest Americans in 2003.
Today Garmin manufactures GPS devices for automotive, aviation, marine, health and personal use. It has about 13,000 employees across 60 offices around the world. It had $3.3 billion in sales in 2018.
“While Gary will be remembered by many as one of the great entrepreneurs of our age, I will remember the unusual way in which he led our company, something he called servant leadership,” Garmin president and CEO Cliff Pemble, who was on one of Burrell’s first hires, said in a statement. “Whether it was about creating the best product or his behavior as a leader, Gary always considered the impact to others before himself. His example not only inspired my contribution to Garmin, it also positively influenced me as a husband and father. I am forever grateful for the rich and enduring legacy of Gary Burrell.”
