Happy Birthday, Eugene McDermott!
02.12.2018
Eugene McDermott
UT Dallas co-founder Eugene McDermott was born on this day in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York.
Known for his intelligence and spirit of philanthropy, his fellow UTD and Texas Instruments co-founders held McDermott in high regard.
“He didn’t try to get credit for what he’d done — that’s not a common trait and it’s sort of refreshing,” Erik Jonsson said to the Dallas Morning News following McDermott’s death in 1973. “He was the most generous man I’ve ever known. He was also an innovator, a fine engineer … curious about anything and everything … intelligent enough to understand anything understood by anyone up to now.”
Cecil Green said: “In the early days of the company (the firm now known as TI), we three complemented each other in personal attributes — Jonsson, the businessman; I was the engineer, and McDermott, the scientist. We were pretty close-knit and never came to the brink of explosion one single time though we had lots of ups and downs.”
Following her husband’s death, Margaret McDermott carried on his legacy of generous support of the University.
Margaret and Eugene McDermott look over a model of the Eugene McDermott Library with Dr. Bryce Jordan, the first president of UT Dallas.