Thursday, June 4, 2015
Early Southern California Technology Pioneer, Gordon Marshall, Passes Away
One of Southern California's very, very early technology pioneers, Gordon Marshall, whose name now graces the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, has passed away at the age of 95 in Pasadena. Marshall founded El Monte-based Marshall Industries, a multi-billion dollar electronics distributor which is now part of Avnet. Marshall founded Marshall Industries in 1953. Marshall Industries was sold to Avnet in 1999. USC named its business school after Gordon Marshall in 1996, after he made gave a $35M endowment to the business school; he also has funded a number of positions at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Marshall Industries grew to $1.8 billion in sales before its acquisition by Avnet.