[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 25, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S1728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING RAYMOND JOHN NOORDA

 Mr. LEE. Mr. President, this month, the Utah Valley Chamber of 
Commerce will honor Raymond John Noorda, posthumously, with the 2014 
``Pillar of the Valley'' Award. I would like to take a moment to 
recognize the achievements of this great Utahn.
  Raymond Noorda, or ``Ray,'' as everyone knew him, was born in Ogden, 
UT in 1924 to Dutch immigrants, Bertus and Alida Noorda. Like nearly 
all Americans who grew up during the Depression, Ray learned the virtue 
of hard work early on, and he never stopped working throughout his 
life. The Deseret News reports that during his youth, Ray worked ``in a 
candy shop, setting pins in a bowling alley, as a loading clerk at a 
train station, picking cherries, selling magazines, and even herding 
sheep.''
  He was an outstanding baseball player, and he was asked to join a 
professional team right out of high school. However, his mother had 
other plans for young Ray, and he subsequently enrolled in classes at 
Weber State College. During World War II, Ray put school on hold and 
served in the Navy as an electronics technician, working on radar 
systems. At the conclusion of his military service, he returned to his 
studies, transferring from Weber to the University of Utah, where he 
earned a degree in engineering. Ray married his sweetheart Tye shortly 
after graduating from college, and they were together for 56 years, 
until Ray's passing in 2006.
  After his graduation from college, Ray worked for General Electric 
for 21 years, where he was known as an innovator and entrepreneur. He 
eventually left the company and led a number of businesses to success 
in the following years. In the early 1980s, Ray became the leader of a 
struggling Utah company called Novell Data Systems, which would shortly 
thereafter become Novell.
  Ray worked to put together a team of engineers, dubbed ``SuperSet.'' 
The team eventually invented powerful networking software, which opened 
the doors to modern networking. For this and other contributions, Ray 
has been called the ``Father of Network Computing.'' This development 
set Novell on a path to success and pushed the company far ahead of 
their early competitors in computer networking throughout the 1980s and 
into the 1990s.
  Of Novell's success under Ray's leadership, The Independent reported, 
``Novell's NetWare product was to become the de facto standard 
networking software from the late 1980s through to the mid-1990s. 
Noorda oversaw the growth of the company from 17 to 12,000 staff, 
whilst still maintaining a community spirit for his employees, whom he 
treated with immense respect and who, in turn, affectionately referred 
to him as Uncle Ray.'''
  Ray was a visionary and humble leader, who believed that cooperation 
with competitors would help grow the emerging computer networking 
industry. Thus, he led his company with a term he coined--``co-
opetition''--and Novell was a leader in cooperative advancements in the 
computing industry. One of Novell's Vice Presidents once said of Ray, 
``What he preaches is what you always wanted to hear from your father--
love, sharing--and he uses those words.'' When Ray spoke to employees, 
he was rarely, if ever, without a joke, and he was always positive and 
encouraging.
  Ray's success in business was a testament to his personal character 
and virtues. He loved children, and enjoyed serving in his church. His 
philanthropy knew no bounds, and his family continues that legacy in 
Utah and throughout the country each day. Ray was a titan of business, 
and his life is a shining example for not only business leaders, but 
also Americans in general. I join with the Utah Valley Chamber in 
honoring his wife Tye and his family, and I thank them for their 
support of such a great man. I pray that we will honor the life of Ray 
Noorda by doing the best we can in our individual capacities, and by 
helping those around us achieve greatness, success, and happiness 
throughout life.

                          ____________________