Resident of Saratoga

We are saddened to announce the loss of Jack Stuart Swartz on February 12, 2025. A gifted engineer, tech company co-founder, and hobbyist who traveled the world, he was known and loved at home as a husband of 68 years to Martha, an older brother, father, uncle, grandfather, and great grandfather.

Born Oct. 15, 1935, and raised in Topeka, Kan., Jack was the oldest of four boys who enjoyed the outdoors.

He served in the Air Force with honor at Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., Lackland AFB in Bexar County, Texas, and Travis AFB near Fairfield, Calif.

Jack was ambitious, audacious, hardworking, a risk taker. But first and foremost, he was a thinker and inventor who liked to build things.

Three houses. Two companies.

The revolutionary IBM "Winchester" disk drive product line in 1973.

Floppy disc drives, one of which was showcased at Carnegie Mellon University’s engineering department.

It isn’t a stretch to say he was one of the early architects of the foundation that became Silicon Valley.

He often developed and honed ideas from a makeshift lab he built in his garage.

Jack was fascinated, as any engineer is, by how things worked – whether an electric vehicle, Formula One race car, airplane, data center.

But really his roots always remained tied to Kansas, where he left as a young man to pursue his dreams inCalifornia.

His thoughts rarely strayed far from the Midwest, where he religiously returned annually – family in tow –often in the forest green Pontiac GTO (license plate ZOG 399) he affectionately called the “Pontanic.”

The trips were often civic lessons on the sights and sounds of the Western U.S., from the Salt Lake and Grand Canyon to Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore. Tornadoes, hailstorms, icy roads and thunderstorms were often the cinematography and soundtrack of our road trips.

Kansas never left Jack. In fact, until recently he maintained a farm in Manhattan, Kan.

Most importantly, Jack had a long, impactful, and wonderful life. We will miss him dearly. Now may he rest in peace, watching over all of us.

With love and peace.

Funeral ceremony to be held Monday, March 3, 11:30 a.m., at Darling & Fischer Chapel of the Hills, 615 North Santa Cruz Ave., in Los Gatos, CA 95030.