Joel Karp

Joel Karp
80 Years Old
Bay Area Resident
After a prolonged fight with prostate cancer, Joel Karp passed away peacefully on April 8, 2021. A private memorial will be held this summer. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Prostate Cancer Foundation: www.pcf.org.
Born and raised in Boston, Joel graduated in 1962 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. After graduating, he worked at the MIT Instrumentation Lab in collaboration with the US Navy, before relocating to Silicon Valley in 1966. With at least nine patents granted as a co-inventor, including for radiation circumvention and an improved dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, he was a pioneer in the emerging field of semiconductors. He was hired as the first circuit designer at Intel in 1968 and stayed there until late 1973.
He formed a consulting firm with another ex-Intel engineer, before starting VISIC, a semiconductor company in 1983 to build a high-speed DRAM. This timing was unfortunate as a recession hit the semiconductor industry in 1985. After many business trips to Asia, beginning with Tokyo in 1968, it was time for Joel to enter a new phase of his career as an intellectual property expert at Samsung in Seoul, Korea in late 1990. Six years later, he returned to Silicon Valley and became the VP of Intellectual Property for Rambus, before retiring in 2000.
Retirement allowed Joel to dedicate more time to his favorite passion: jazz. He played the trombone in a variety of Bay Area jazz bands including: Full Spectrum, Bob Enos Soundwave and Stanford Jazz Band. He hosted a weekly "bones quartet" at his home for many years. His grandchildren fondly remember him playing 76 Trombones as he marched them to bed during visits. Even when his health had deteriorated, he never lost his eternal enthusiasm for jazz. With a keen sense of humor, he brought good laughs to many friends and colleagues over the years.
Joel was an incredible husband, father and grandfather. He is survived by Ann, his wife of more than 40 years, daughters Melissa (the Netherlands), Robin (Brentwood, CA), Eden (Cupertino, CA) and Leigh (Mountain View, CA), and grandchildren Alexandria (Chicago, IL), Veronica (the Netherlands), Nicolas (Virginia) and Ashlynn (Scotland). He will be missed by us all.


View the online memorial for Joel Karp