The practical realist

Ed Porter and Bill Hewlett were the closest of boyhood friends. In high school, they shared the interests, aspirations and dreams that young men do and even chose to attend college together. As engineering students, Bill, Ed and Dave Packard hit it off well and after graduation, the three prepared to "make a run for it" in business. The fact is that — but for a simple twist of timing and fate — the company might well have begun its life as Packard-Porter and Hewlett.

By any other name

Born in 1913, Noel Edmund Porter was a native son of California. His father, an Episcopal Bishop, moved the family north when Ed, as he was called then, was still a boy. He received his education in the San Francisco Bay Area and it was there he met Bill Hewlett.

Zealously interested in amateur radio as a teen, Ed became known in ham circles as the "Frisco Snake" because of his proximity to San Francisco and his signature call letters W6BOA. Tinkering was a shared interest with his closest buddy, Bill, and radios were great devices to tinker with.

He preferred the less formal "Ed" in high school and college, but after graduation concluded that "Noel" was a more distinguished name. So he was Noel to the world thereafter but always remained "Ed" to Bill and Dave.

A matter of timing

Public namesake — Porter played a pivotal role in surface access improvements between the Bayshore Highway (Highway 101) and the booming, seven-hundred-acre industrial park that is known today as Stanford Research Park.

Encouraged by their Stanford professor, Fred Terman, schoolmates Bill, Dave, Ed and a kid named Barney Oliver, often talked of starting a business in the budding field of radio engineering. The foursome were making tentative plans to try to do something on their own after graduation, but those plans were set aside in 1934 when Dave got a job with General Electric and headed east.

With that turn of events, Bill went on to graduate studies; Barney returned south to Cal-Tech and Ed went to work as an applications engineer for a distributor selling air conditioning equipment to hotels in the Sacramento Valley.

In the late 1930s, when Bill and Dave were getting things going in the garage, they maintained frequent contact with Ed. He even participated in the August 1937 planning discussions with the pair; but by the time 1938 rolled around and Bill and Dave were ready to take the plunge into business, Ed was doing well enough that he decided to stay where he was rather than join them in the garage.

In the years that followed, Ed still kept touch with his college chums, commissioning them to design some custom-control equipment for the air conditioners he was selling. Still very much in the hands on stage of engineering, Dave made the patterns and cast the aluminum parts for the air conditioning control devices. Another friend, Charlie Litton (whose shop would in time become Litton Industries) also had an engraving machine, so as an extra touch to their service, Bill and Dave engraved the hotel names on the controls.

In 1940, as the country geared up for World War II, Ed took a job as an assistant electrical superintendent for Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California. Then, in 1943, he obtained a commission in the U.S. Navy attached to the Bureau of Ships as officer in charge of development and procurement of infrared devices.

The realist with a light touch

In 1946, Ed rejoined his college chums and came onboard with HP as production manager. In 1947, the company incorporated and Ed took his place at the core of a management team that would guide the company for the next 30 years.

His tenure included time served as HP production manager, vice president of manufacturing, Eastern operations and the oversight of major segments of HP's operations including medical and analytical instrumentation.

In later years, when Ed's health precluded carrying a full load at HP, he became a special assistant to Bill and an elder statesman for HP, successfully handling many difficult projects for the company and the surrounding community. Dave and Bill depended on his experience and sensitivity to people and his uncanny ability to get disagreeing factions to work together.

Bill described Ed as an enthusiastic and happy person with an infectious personality that people seemed to instinctively turn to for help. "He was a realist with a light touch," Bill recalled. "He could find humor in the grimmest situation and bring real joy to happier circumstances."

Campaign poster, 1959 — In addition to serving two terms on the Palo Alto City Council and five years as mayor, Porter also served as president of the California League of Cities in 1964.

Civic life Ed, in typical HP fashion, took his civic responsibility very seriously. In 1953, he was elected to the first of two six-year terms as a Palo Alto city councilman and served as mayor for five consecutive one-year terms (1955-1960). It was during this time period that Ed played a major role in developing the city's park system, including the acquisition of the 1,400-acre Foothills Park. The park is still considered one of the jewels in the city's crown. Ed Porter died on October 1, 1976, at age 63. At his funeral, his old friend Bill delivered the eulogy. "There are few people about whom one can say that the world was a better place for their having lived," Bill said of his life-long friend. "In my view, Ed Porter would be one of those few."