Gary Leon Burrell (August 24, 1937 – June 12, 2019) was an American electrical engineer, businessman, and philanthropist. He was the co-founder, with

Min Kao Min Hwan Kao () is a Taiwanese-American electrical engineer, billionaire businessman, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Garmin, with Gary Burrell, and has been its chairman. In 2011, Kao was elected a member of the National Academy o ...

, and chairman emeritus of

Garmin Garmin Ltd. is an American multinational technology company based in Olathe, Kansas. The company designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes GPS-enabled products and other navigation, communication, sensor-based, and information ...

, makers of popular

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...

devices.

Early life

Gary Burrell was born in 1937. He earned his undergraduate degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

and a master's degree from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

Career

Burrell worked for Lowrance Electronics and King Radio Corporation. In the early 1980s, he worked for Allied Signal. Along with partner

, Burrell founded Garmin in 1989 to make navigation devices for aviation and boating using the Global Positioning System. Their original office was two folding chairs and a card table. Some U.S. servicemen used Garmin GPS during the first

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, even though Garmin never had a military contract. Later on, the technology was expanded for the U.S. market, providing directions across all United States roads and highways.

Philanthropy

Burrell was a significant donor to the Indian Creek Community Church in Olathe,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Awards

In September 2024, Burrell was inducted into the

National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with ...

in Dayton, Ohio.

Personal life

Burrell was married, and had three children. He resided in Spring Hill, Kansas. As of 2016, Burrell was a billionaire. He died on June 12, 2019, at the age of 81 from complications of Parkinson's disease.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrell, Gary 1937 births 2019 deaths American telecommunications industry businesspeople American electrical engineers Businesspeople from Kansas Garmin People from Spring Hill, Kansas People from Stilwell, Kansas Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Wichita State University alumni 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists Business duos Kansas Business Hall of Fame inductees