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East Lansing, Michigan (May 22, 2006)
James R. Von Ehr II, a nanotechnology entrepreneur and the
co-creator of FreeHand, the popular illustration software,
was honored with two awards from his alma mater, Michigan
State University, on May 7. The 1972 graduate was named the
2006 College of Engineering Claud R. Erickson Distinguished
Alumnus and received the Department of Computer Science &
Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award.
He took that opportunity to announce that he
was establishing an endowment fund of $1 million at MSU to
provide scholarships for a total of 16 engineering undergraduate
students who show academic promise and demonstrate financial
need. “I want to provide financial assistance to undergraduates
who come from humble backgrounds, as I did,” he said.
“I hope that Von Ehr Scholars will become leaders and
pathfinders and improve the world by building links from technology
to society by their entrepreneurial action. I also hope, and
expect, that my example leads them to give back to Michigan
State and the next generation of students, and to the greater
communities in which they operate.”
Von Ehr has maintained close ties with MSU.
He has served on the college and department alumni boards
for several years each, as well as being a strong financial
supporter of both the college and the department. Originally
from New Buffalo, Michigan, he began his career at Texas Instruments
and has lived in Texas ever since. He met his wife, Gayla,
when they started working at TI on the same day in 1973. While
employed at TI, he earned an MS in mathematical science at
the University of Texas–Dallas.
In 1984, Von Ehr and a friend began creating
a font editor for the Macintosh. This was the beginning of
his software company, Altsys, which soon moved into desktop
publishing and the creation of FreeHand and Fontographer.
The sale of his company to Macromedia in 1995 brought Von
Ehr unexpected wealth, which enabled him to start Zyvex —
the first molecular nanotechnology development company —
in Richardson, Texas.
Praised by colleagues as a “creative leader,”
Von Ehr’s visionary goal is to apply the principles
of computing and precision chemistry to micro- and nano-fabrication.
Zyvex is blazing new trails for space exploration, health
care, and energy production. In 2003, Von Ehr received the
prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award
for Pioneering.
Von Ehr was instrumental in the passage of the
21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act,
which authorized $3.7 billion for research and development
programs for four years, and he was invited to be present
in the Oval Office when President George W. Bush signed the
bill into law. Since 2003, Von Ehr has served on the Nanotechnology
Technical Advisory Group to the U.S. President’s Council
of Advisors on Science and Technology.
One of Von Ehr’s goals is to make a place
where private enterprise, the public sector, universities,
and venture capitalists can work together to advance nanotechnology.
He is the co-founder of the Texas Nanotechnology Initiative,
a nonprofit consortium of private and public organizations.
He established the NanoTech Institute of the University of
Texas at Dallas, where he also endowed the James Von Ehr Distinguished
Chair of Science and Technology held by Nobel Laureate Alan
G. MacDiarmid. In 2005, the leading nanotechnology think tank
— the Foresight Nanotech Institute — appointed
Von Ehr to its first board of directors.
Business associates describe Von Ehr as having “bottomless
curiosity” and as being “uniquely ethical and
honorable,” with an “unwavering sense of social
responsibility.
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