Charles Edward Sporck

Charlie is best known for his role as president and chief executive officer of National Semiconductor from 1967 to 1991 and is considered a key founding father of the semiconductor industry.

Charlie was born to Christian and Caroline Sporck in Saranac Lake, New York, on Nov. 15, 1927, the second of their three children. He was raised in a hard-working family, with his father driving a taxi while recovering from tuberculosis and his mother running the family gas station and raising Charlie and his siblings. The village of Saranac Lake and the Adirondacks were always dear to Charlie, and he credited much of his success to his simple upbringing there.

Charlie was athletic growing up and enjoyed playing football and basketball, the former would turn into a lifelong passion as a fan of the San Francisco 49ers. During the summers in high school, Charlie worked as a lifeguard at Lake Flower beach with his friends. One day, while on the job, he spotted a beautiful girl named Jeanine Wamsganz. Charlie fondly remembered exclaiming to his friend, “You see that beautiful girl over there? I’m going to marry her!” The rest is history, as the couple went on to marry in 1949 and remained together for the rest of their lives.

After graduating from Saranac Lake High School in 1945, Charlie went on to serve in the U.S. Army. When the war ended, Charlie followed in his brother’s footsteps and attended Cornell University, where he graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1950.

After graduating college, Charlie and Jeanine moved to Glens Falls, New York, where he started his first job at General Electric. At GE, he gained valuable experience in manufacturing and was placed in an advanced management training program and moved around to multiple GE facilities. Also while at GE, he saw how unions could, at times, be detrimental to a company. In 1959, Charlie landed what would turn out to be a pivotal opportunity at the newly founded semiconductor division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument in California. Subsequently, he moved his family to Silicon Valley to start what would be a monumental career.

At Fairchild, Charlie was on the ground floor of what would become a revolutionary technology, called semiconductors, that today are used ubiquitously in electronic devices. Charlie’s first role at Fairchild was as the manufacturing plant manager. Charlie worked side by side with such industry legends as Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore, who went on to found Intel and Jerry Sanders, who went on to found AMD.

In 1967, Charlie took the opportunity to become the CEO of National Semiconductor, which at the time was then a struggling company. Under his leadership, National quickly grew to become a world leader in semiconductors, known for its manufacturing prowess and the first semiconductor company to achieve $1 billion in revenue. Among his other achievements, Charlie was one of the pioneers of global semiconductor manufacturing with National operating facilities around the world. He was also one of the first CEOs to offer stock to employees, which Charlie believed better aligned their success to the company’s success, while being an important tool to keep unions out of the industry. Charlie was also instrumental in working with other industry leaders and the U.S. government to implement key policies to prevent U.S. semiconductor companies from being put out of business by foreign competitors having the unfair advantage of substantial governments’ subsidies. He was a key driver in the creation of and often referred to as the “father of Sematech” a public/private consortium set up to ensure US semiconductor competitiveness.

Outside of National, Charlie was a caring husband, father, grandfather and family man. Charlie had a deep love of family, his country and his company. He enjoyed vacationing in Hawaii, ski trips to Utah and spending summers in Saranac Lake. Charlie was also a big proponent of STEM education and donated to the Engineering School of Cornell University as well as setting up an annual scholarship in the name of the superintendent of Saranac Lake schools, Howard Littell, for students interested in engineering and science.

Charlie’s love of Saranac Lake cannot be overstated. After retiring from National Semiconductor, he spent his summers there, enjoying the company of relatives and friends and focused on returning his gratitude by building the Caroline Sporck Admissions building at Paul Smith’s College, donating to the River Walk and the Adirondack Hospital.

Charlie was well known to appreciate a good cigar (or a few) and enjoyed telling stories about his life experiences. He had uncanny common sense, which made him the preferred source of advice and guidance for close friends and family. He will be sorely missed by all those who knew him, especially for his larger-than-life personality and by those that had the blessing to be touched by his life.

Charlie was predeceased by his high school sweetheart and wife, Jeanine; two loving sons, Charles and Jonathan Sporck; and brother Christian.

He is survived by his youngest son, Christian; daughter Martha Jane; daughter-in-law Mary Sporck; and sister Ruth Levy. He is also survived by seven grandchildren, Charles, Christian, Emily, Lauren, Claire, Joseph and Suzie; as well as four great-grandchildren, Magnolia, Carter, Christian and Remi.

Funeral arrangements are in care of the Fortune-Keough Funeral Home in Saranac Lake. A graveside service will take place at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 15 at the North Elba Cemetery in Lake Placid with the Rev. Eric Olsen officiating. Family and friends can also share their condolences and memories at fortunekeoughfuneralhome.com.