Arthur Rock (born August 19, 1926) is an American businessman, investor, and venture capitalist. He helped arrange the financing of Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957, co-founded the venture capital partnership Davis & Rock with Thomas J. Davis Jr. in 1961, and was an early investor and director at companies including Teledyne, Intel, Scientific Data Systems, and Apple.
Rock's career is associated with the early development of venture capital in Silicon Valley. Harvard Business School described him as one of the first American venture capitalists and credited him with helping launch Fairchild Semiconductor, Teledyne, Intel, Apple, and other technology companies. He later became a philanthropist in entrepreneurship education, corporate governance, and education-related organizations.
Early life and education
Rock was born in Rochester, New York, on August 19, 1926. He was the only child of Hyman and Reva Rock, and his father operated a small candy store where Rock worked as a boy.
Rock joined the United States Army in 1944, but World War II ended before he was deployed overseas.
Career
After business school, Rock worked in the accounting department at Vick Chemical Company and then in investment banking in New York. The Science History Institute lists positions at Wertheim and Company from 1951 to 1956 and at Hayden, Stone & Co. from 1956 to 1961. Harvard Business School reported that Davis & Rock invested $3 million and returned $100 million to investors between 1961 and 1968. The Science History Institute lists Rock as Intel's chairman from 1968 to 1974, vice chairman from 1974 to 1980, and director from 1968 to 1999.
Rock's law
Rock is the namesake of Rock's law, also known as Moore's second law. The law states that the capital cost of a semiconductor fabrication plant doubles approximately every four years. In 2009, The Guardian reported that Intel executive Mike Mayberry attributed the formulation to Rock.
Philanthropy and politics
In 2003, Rock donated $25 million to Harvard Business School to establish what became the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.
Rock has supported education-related organizations and political campaigns. Stanford Law School lists him as co-founder and past president of the Basic Fund, which provides scholarships for children to attend private schools, and as a supporter of Teach For America, the Children's Scholarship Fund, and KIPP. Teach For America named its Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Social Innovation Award after Rock and Rembe. In 2022, Mission Local reported that Rock had donated more than $500,000 to the campaign supporting the 2022 San Francisco Board of Education recall elections.
Honors
The Science History Institute lists Rock's honors as including the 1987 Medal of Achievement from the American Electronics Association and the American Academy of Achievement, the 1995 California Business Hall of Fame, the 1997 Arents Pioneer Medal from Syracuse University, the 1999 Lifetime Achievement in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award from the University of California, the 1999 Private Equity Hall of Fame, the 2001 Visionary Award from the Software Development Forum, and the 2002 Business Leader of the Year award from the Harvard Business School Association of Northern California.
Personal life
Rock is married to attorney Toni Rembe. Actor J. K. Simmons portrayed Rock in the 2013 film Jobs.
See also
- Moore's second law
- Triumph of the Nerds
References
External links
- Computer History Museum – Arthur Rock in conversation with John Markoff
- Computer History Museum – Oral History Panel: Gordon Moore and Arthur Rock