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Roy L Clay
Roy Clay Sr. was born in Kinloch, Missouri in 1929. After attending segregated public schools, he became one of the first African-Americans to graduate from Saint Louis University (SLU) with a B.S ...view moreRoy Clay Sr. was born in Kinloch, Missouri in 1929. After attending segregated public schools, he became one of the first African-Americans to graduate from Saint Louis University (SLU) with a B.S in mathematics in 1951. He relocated to California and began working as a programmer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His early work involved creating a radiation tracking system to study the aftermath of a nuclear explosion.Hired by David Packard at Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 1965, Clay became a founding member of the Computer Division, where he was director of the team that developed the HP 2116A, Hewlett-Packard's first minicomputer. He established Roy L. Clay and Associates and worked closely with Tom Perkins (Kleiner Perkins) to become a contributor to the formation of Silicon Valley as we know it today. Clay founded Rod-L Electronics in 1977 and, as CEO, led it until 2015. Mr. Clay was the first African American to join the City Council of Palo Alto, California and become Vice Mayor in 1976. He became the first African American member of the Olympic Club of San Francisco in 1989. He was inducted into the Silicon Valley Hall of Fame in 2003. Clay was married to the late Virginia Clay, and has three sons, Roy, Jr, Rodney, and Chris. He is known as the Godfather of Silicon Valley.view less