Horace Sklar

Born in Havana, Cuba, an US citizen, fraternal twin with Virgil and a 3 year older brother, Alfred H. Alfred. My catholic mother, Dr. Olga M. Ferrer, Cuban, daughter of Dr. Horacio Ferrer, colonel in the Cuban War of Independance against Spain, and both an Ophthalmologist. She passed away in 2007 of pneumonia. My jewish father, Dr. Alfred L. Sklar, was born in Baltimore, MD. an US citizen. With PhD‘s in molecular physics and chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1935, having studied with James Franck and Dr. M. Goeppert-Mayer, he demonstrated the ring structure of the benzene molecule and formulated the basic theory of color of organic compounds, collaborating with Goeppert-Mayer and Dr. Edward Teller, with whom he remained a lifelong friend. He passed away in 1989.

Skipped 7th Grade and did 8th grade at Villa St. Jean in Fribourg, Switzerland. We learned some French and went snow skiing every week, for a year, at Gstaad, Lac Noir, and Zermatt. Learned some French and went snow skiing every week, for a year. A truly magical time.

I and Virgil attended Princeton University, rooming together. It was there that I discovered that all the fun I was having with Heathkit’s projects could continue. Love at first sight. We received advanced graduation (3 yrs) a BSEE ’72, Magma Cum Laude. Virgil received a BA ’72, in Biochemistry.

I then attended MIT, EE-Non ’75 in Communications. Virgil went to Georgetown University in St. Louis, MO, It was a difficult time, first time that we separated.

Married Pamela Tutty in New Jersey, and had two daughters, Nicole Maria ’77 and Corinne Maria ’79. Their middle name carried their link from Cuba.

I developed my technical skills during my first twelve years at Defense organizations like GTE Sylvania, Rockwell,/Collins Radio, ITT/DCD and TRW. Left Massachusetts after the “Blizzard of ’78″ and drove two weeks California bound. Lived there ever since. In 1982, bought my first home in Escondido where my kids grew up.

Started San Diego based Silicon Technology Labs in 1986, an ASIC/FPGA engineering design services SDB firm. I honed my skills in the areas of customer relationship, project, and resource management, and augmented my technical design skills. For the next fourteen years, I grew the company into ten engineers and an office manager, winning SBIR Phase 1 & II proposals and enjoyed over 30 clients. In 1990, developed the Crunch-860 product line