Qualcomm’s Founding Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs

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Irwin.Richard.JV_.Jan_The show’s guest Irwin Jacobs. Dr. Jacobs was born in Massachusetts, and received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University. He then went on to attend Massachusetts Institution of Technology, MIT, where he received his Masters in 1957 and Doctorate in 1959. It was a Professorship at the University of California San Diego in the Computer Science and Engineering that brought him to the west coast.

After co-founding Linkabit, which developed satellite encryption devices, he went on to create two-way mobile satellite communication and tracking systems at Qualcomm. Though he retired in 2009 and is now engaged in philanthropic pursuits, his son Dr. Paul E. Jacobs serves as Qualcomm’s CEO and Chairman of the Board.

Dr. Jacobs has contributed millions of dollars to educational institutions and has pledged $120 million to the San Diego Symphony. He is well known for his support of the arts in San Diego and is a participant of “The Giving Pledge,” a campaign that encourages billionaires to give most of their wealth to philanthropy.

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