Steve Appleton personified Micron Technology Inc. He was more than its public face — he was its leader.
"It was ruled by one guy," said Mike Howard, a semiconductor analyst in Boise for IHS iSuppli and a former Micron employee. If he said the company was going to do something, everyone fell in line, Howard said.
Appleton, the chairman and CEO of Micron Technology, was killed shortly before 9 a.m. Friday in a plane crash at the Boise airport. He was 51.
"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Appleton, Micron Chairman and CEO, passed away this morning in a small plane accident in Boise," the company's board of directors said in a news release. "Our hearts go out to his wife, Dalynn, his children and his family during this tragic time."
"Steve's passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large."
Trading in Micron's stock was halted late Thursday morning, Mountain time, on the Nasdaq exchange. It resumed late in the day, and the stock was down more than 3 percent in after-hours trading.
Micron named its No. 2 executive, D. Mark Durcan, as interim chief executive. Durcan, 50, Micron's president and chief operating officer, announced just one week ago that he would retire from Micron in August after 28 years with the Boise memory-chip manufacturer. Mark W. Adams, Micron's vice president of worldwide sales, was named to succeed Durcan.
It wasn't immediately known if Durcan would be a candidate for the CEO job or the chairmanship, or whether he would change his mind about retirement. Micron said its board would meet over the weekend.
Micron watchers say Durcan needs to stay on, as much as a couple of years, to help the company through the transition.
Durcan is regarded as a strong engineer who complimented Appleton's strengths as a visionary. He is widely regarded as a primary influence in the company's move to diversify its product base in recent years, branching out from dynamic random-access memory into flash memory and other products. NAND flash memory last year overtook DRAM as Micron's principal product.
"Steve was a true friend who will be dearly missed by all of us," Durcan said Friday.
Appleton brought a deep history to the computer chip business and has been a driving force in consolidation that has surrounded the business, Howard said.
He was also a risk-taker. Micron's board was tolerant of Appleton's penchant for risky hobbies, Parker said. "Steve's hobby of flying airplanes is part of who he is, of his competitive and dynamic nature, " said Dave Parker, a Micron spokesman, in 2004, after Appleton was injured in another plane crash.
"It translates well into his job as CEO of a major semiconductor memory company and the challenges that come with that responsibility," Parker said then. "The board understands this."
One question is what Appleton's death will mean to the future of Micron.
Appleton's death came just one week after Micron's No. 2 executive, Mark Durcan, 50, announced that he would step down as resident and chief operating officer in August after 28 years with the company. Mark W. Adams, Micron's vice president of worldwide sales, was named to succeed Durcan. He has an MBA from Harvard.
Appleton led the company through its downsizing in recent years. Amid continuing losses that ultimately stretched to 11 quarters, Micron ended memory-chip manufacturing in Boise in 2009. The company now employs more than 5,000 people in Boise, half the number it had a decade ago.
