AUSTIN, Texas — Pike Powers, considered a trailblazer for Austin's tech scene, died at his home Sunday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, according to a report from the Austin Business Journal (ABJ).
The report states that Powers was a longtime member of the Austin Area Research Organization (AARO), which announced his death.
“He was one of the most significant civic leaders this region as ever known, a major contributor to the technology economy, the so called Technopolis, that Austin enjoys today,” said AARO CEO Sandy Hentges.
The ABJ reports that Powers graduated from Lamar University, and later law school at the University of Texas in 1965. He was also a member of the Texas House of Representatives in the '70s, representing Jefferson County. He then went on to serve as chief of staff to Texas Gov. Mark White in the '80s.
According to the ABJ, Powers' impact stemmed from his law career that led him to structure huge deals that often required government intervention.
"When he wasn’t executing economic development in Austin as a Fulbright & Jaworski lawyer (now Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP), he was doing so as an ambassador — a volunteer — to one of the many civic and economic groups in town, such as the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce," wrote the ABJ's Colin Pope.
The report states Powers' dealings were linked to some of Austin's original tech companies, such as MCC, 3M, Sematech, Applied Materials, AMD and Samsung, all of which paved the way for today's giants like Tesla, Facebook and Google.
To read the full report, click here.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: