David Woodley Packard (born 1940) is an American former professor and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

; he is the son of

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

co-founder David Packard. A former HP

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ...

member (1987–1999), David is best known for his opposition to the HP-Compaq merger and his support for

classical studies Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages ...

, especially the digitization of classics research. He has made significant contribution to the study of the language and the sign repertory of the Minoan

Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 BC to 1450 BC. Linear A was the primary script used in Minoan palaces, palace and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It evolved into Linear B, ...

script. Packard currently serves as president of the

Packard Humanities Institute The Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) is a non-profit foundation, established in 1987, and located in Los Altos, California, which funds projects in a wide range of conservation concerns in the fields of archaeology, music, film preservation, ...

. Packard was responsible for acquiring, with

David and Lucile Packard Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to not-for-profit organizations. It was created in 1964 by David Packard (co-founder of HP) and his wife Lucile Salter Packard. Following David Packard's dea ...

funds, the former Mount Pony facility for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in 1997; it has opened as the

National Audio-Visual Conservation Center The National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC) is a branch of the Library of Congress devoted to preserving the United States' audio-visual history. It includes the Packard Campus (PCAVC), opened in 2007 to store the then entire 6.3 milli ...

. He also supports film preservation through the Packard Humanities Institute. Packard also currently runs operations of the Stanford Theatre. In 2000, Packard donated USD 5 million to fund an emergency excavation of the Zeugma archeological site, after reading about it in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, allowing archeologists to preserve ancient mosaics that would otherwise be inundated by the Birecik Dam. Packard was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2006.

References

Selected works

* (1967) A Study of the Minoan Linear A Tablets (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University) * (1968) Contextual and Statistical Analysis of Linear A // Atti e memorie der primo congresso internazionale di Micenologia 1, pp. 389–394. Rome. * (1968) A concordance to Livy. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. . * (1971) Computer Techniques in the Study of the Minoan Linear Script A // Kadmos 10:52-59. * (1974) Minoan Linear A. University of California Press. . Living people American classical scholars Harvard University alumni 1940 births People from the San Francisco Bay Area American classical philologists 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1940s-stub Members of the American Philosophical Society

See also

References

Selected works