Robert Rempel

Robert Rempel Who co-founded a Silicon Valley company that first produced the laser and helped lead to its widespread use, died May 27 of cancer at his home in Los Altos. He was 79.

Mr. Rempel was a co-founder in 1961 of Spectra-Physics. The work done at the Mountain View company and built upon by others in later years led to the widespread use of lasers that are now integral in everything from DVD players to surgery, according to his family.

Born in 1925 in Pasadena, Mr. Rempel graduated from Pomona College with a bachelor's degree in math and physics in 1948. He earned his master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1950 and his doctorate in physics from Stanford in 1956.

He co-founded Spectra-Physics in 1961 and later a second laser company, Chromatix Inc. Mr. Rempel retired in 1980, but in 1994, formed a foundation to help support pediatric pain research. An avid hiker and runner throughout his life, Mr. Rempel took up more extreme sports in his 50s after he retired; horseback riding, helicopter skiing and skydiving until recently.

He is survived by his wife, Janie Rempel of Los Altos, a sister, Dorothy Munroe of Balboa Island (Orange County); two daughters, Kathy Krafft of Ithaca, New York, and Alison Brown of San Francisco; a son, Steve Rempel of Mountain View; and eight grandchildren.

Memorial donations can be made to Pathways Hospice Foundation, 585 N. Mary Ave., Sunnyvale, California 94085, or Sempervirens Fund, Drawer BE, Los Altos, California 94023. At his request, there will be no memorial service.