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Meet the Fitzpatricks
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Michael and Patty Fitzpatrick
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It took three years from the time Michael and Patty Fitzpatrick met at Duke- he a football scholarship student just back from spring practice, she the daughter of a Duke professor- to go on a date together. But from that night on, says Patty, "There was no turning back." Married in Duke Chapel in 1971, the Fitzpatricks have been moving forward together ever since - forging a dynamic 30-year partnership that has produced three children, influential and lucrative careers in leading-edge industries, and imaginative approaches to sharing their remarkably good fortune.
Both Fitzpatricks credit their time together at Duke as laying the foundation for all that would follow. "It was at Duke that I learned to constantly question and refine my goals and values," Patty says. "Duke fostered my natural curiosity and challenged me to be a better person." Michael reflects that, as much as he learned from Duke's academic programs, "I learned even more from the quality of the people I was associated with. I realized how important it was to surround yourself with a quality team. It's a strategy I've pursued ever since, and it has always led to success."
Michael became fascinated with computers soon after graduation, seeing past still-primitive technology to future potential. Joining the industry at that point, he recalls, "was like being a pioneer in the days of the Wild West." As the technology grew, so did his career - propelled by his ability to spot emerging technology trends, implement and execute successful strategic plans, and maintain his comfort with risk.
The Fitzpatricks' substantial donation toward photonics education is a natural outgrowth of Michael's first-hand knowledge of the significant shortage of highly trained photonics engineers and of Patty's long-term commitment to education. "Our foundation and our gift to photonics at Duke both express, in different ways, our desire to support the potential of education to make a positive impact on people's lives," says Patty.
The impact of the Fitzpatricks' gift will ultimately expand far beyond Duke. "The Center's real value will stem from the quality of its students and their research," Michael says. "Research is the pulse of technology, and we are confident that Duke will be at the heart of it."
Michael Fitzpatrick began his career in technology as a mainframe computer programmer. By his early 30s, he had risen rapidly through management ranks and already accomplished the sale and public offerings of several companies. After serving as CEO of Network Systems and Pacific Telesis Enterprises, Michael foresaw wireless and photonics as pivotal new technologies. Returning to his entrepreneurial roots, he joined a tiny optical company, E-Tek Dynamics. In just over three years, Michael grew the company's run rate from $50 million to $1 billion and guided its sale to JDS Uniphase-resulting in the second largest merger in the history of the telecommunications industry.
Patty Fitzpatrick enjoyed a successful career as a corporate training and development executive at Abraham and Strauss and Mt. Sinai Hospital, both in New York City. She founded The Design Source, a California interior design firm, and now heads the Fitzpatrick Foundation, dedicated to improving educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth in northern California.
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