Bob Miner
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Robert Nimrod Miner (December 23, 1941 – November 11, 1994) was an American businessman. He was the co-founder of
Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...
and the producer of Oracle's
relational database management system A relational database (RDB) is a database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of database management system that stores data in a structured for ...
. From 1977 until 1992, Miner led product design and development for the Oracle relational database management system. In December 1992, he left that role and spun off a small, advanced technology group within Oracle. He was an Oracle board member until October 1993.


Early life

Bob Miner was born on December 23, 1941 in
Cicero, Illinois Cicero is a town in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,268, making it the 11th-most populous municipality in Illinois. The town is named after Marcus Tullius Cicero, a R ...
, to an Assyrian family. Both of his parents came from Ada, a village in
West Azerbaijan Province West Azerbaijan province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, whose capital and largest city is Urmia. It is in the northwest of the country, bordered by Turkey ( Ağrı, Hakkâri, Iğdır and Van Provinces), Iraq ( Erbil and Sula ...
, northwest Iran, and had migrated to the US in the 1920s. He was their fifth child of five. Miner graduated in 1963 with a degree in mathematics from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...
.


Career

In 1977, Miner met Larry Ellison at
Ampex Ampex Data Systems Corporation is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name ''AMPEX'' is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excell ...
, where he was Larry's supervisor. Miner left Ampex soon thereafter to found a company called Software Development Laboratories with Ed Oates and Bruce Scott, with Larry Ellison joining the company several months later. It was at this time that Ed Oates introduced Miner and Ellison to a paper by
E. F. Codd Edgar Frank "Ted" Codd (19 August 1923 – 18 April 2003) was a British computer scientist who, while working for IBM, invented the relational model for database management, the theoretical basis for relational databases and relational database ...
on the
relational model The relational model (RM) is an approach to managing data using a structure and language consistent with first-order predicate logic, first described in 1969 by English computer scientist Edgar F. Codd, where all data are represented in terms of t ...
for database management. IBM was slow to see the commercial value of Codd's
relational database management system A relational database (RDB) is a database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of database management system that stores data in a structured for ...
(RDBMS), allowing Miner and Ellison to beat them to the market. In the start-up days of Oracle Bob Miner was the lead engineer, programming the majority of Oracle Version 3 by himself. As head of engineering, Miner's management style was in stark contrast to Larry Ellison, who cultivated Oracle's hard-driving sales culture. Although he expected his engineers to produce, he did not agree with the demands laid upon them by Ellison. He thought it was wrong for people to work extremely late hours and that they should have the chance to see their families. According to Ellison, Miner was "loyal to the people before the company".Wilson, Mike, 2003. The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: Inside Oracle Corporation. Harper Collins. p.91


Personal life

Miner was diagnosed in 1993 with
pleural The pleural cavity, or pleural space (or sometimes intrapleural space), is the potential space between the pulmonary pleurae, pleurae of the pleural sac that surrounds each lung. A small amount of serous fluid, serous pleural fluid is maintained ...
mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The area most commonly affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lini ...
, a rare form of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...
typically caused by exposure to
asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...
. He died on November 11, 1994, at age 52, surrounded by his wife Mary and their three children, Nicola, Justine, and Luke. His wife Mary is the founder and owner of Oakville Ranch Vineyards, a Napa winery. His daughter Nicola Miner is married to author Robert Mailer Anderson. Miner family's charitable foundation has donated to various San Francisco arts and education institutions. The
SFJAZZ Center The SFJAZZ Center is an all-ages music venue in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and ...
's auditorium is named after Miner.


References


Further reading

* Symonds, Matthew, 2003.
Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle
'. Simon & Schuster. With commentary by Ellison.

and Symonds (2003). {{DEFAULTSORT:Miner, Bob 1941 births 1994 deaths American computer businesspeople American people of Iranian-Assyrian descent American technology chief executives American technology company founders Businesspeople from Illinois Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Deaths from mesothelioma in the United States Oracle employees People from Cicero, Illinois University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 20th-century American businesspeople American people of Assyrian descent