Donald Rudolph Sorchych went home to his Lord on November 6, 2021. Don was born in DePue, Illinois on January 25,1931 to Rudolph and Bessie Sorchych. He spent his childhood days outdoors hunting, trapping and foraging for morel mushrooms during the season.
Don served in the US Navy from 1951 to 1955, after which he attended the University of Illinois. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1960. Following graduation, he joined Radiation, Inc. as an Electronics Circuit Design Engineer. His group designed the telemetry and data handling equipment for programs such as Minuteman, the Orbiting Astronautical Observatory and the Apollo and Lunar EM spacecraft.
In 1965 Don transferred to the Semiconductor Laboratory as Director of Engineering, guiding his department in the radiation-hardened integrated circuits for the Poseidon Program. In 1967 he was promoted to Vice President and General Manager of the Semiconductor Division which was later acquired by Harris Corporation.
Don was promoted to Vice President-Group Executive at Harris in 1973. By the end of 1979, he had transformed the Group from primarily a government end use supplier to an aggressive supplier to the commercial market.
After having been recruited by Datamedix, Inc. in 1979 as its President and CEO, he brought their company, which was geared toward ambulatory devices to measure and classify abnormal heartbeats, to a successful product launch while reorganizing research and development. He left in 1980.
Don founded Medicomp, a medical electronics company, in 1981 with Intermedics as its major investor. He was elected Sr. Executive Vice President of Intermedics in 1982. By the time he sold Medicomp in 1985, their proprietary ambulatory computer and detection algorithms were recognized as industry leading technology.
From 1985 to 1989, as President and CEO of the Microelectronics Division of General Instrument, Don was commissioned to develop the division into an independent subsidiary to be taken to the public market. Don became the President and CEO of the resulting company, Microchip Technology, Inc. in 1987. He successfully arranged a buyout of the company with the financial backing of a consortium of venture capitalists after two IPO attempts failed due to market weakness.
Don left Microchip Technologies in 1990 to render consultation to the semiconductor and medical electronics industries.
Throughout his professional career, Don was an avid hunter and fisherman who was highly proficient in his pursuit of every type of game from turkeys and game birds to deer and elk to bison. It was his passion.
In 1995, Don founded Sonoran News, a freely distributed, community watchdog newspaper in Cave Creek, Arizona. Sonoran News was instrumental in saving Spur Cross Ranch from development and preserving the integrity of this wonderful place Don called home through Quiet Skies. His ‘retirement’ as publisher and editor of Sonoran News brought him great joy.
Don is survived by his devoted wife and his loving family.
Memorial donations may be made to the Foothills Foodbank and Resource Center and the Cave Creek Museum.
A private celebration of his life will be held at a later date.
