Franklin Antonio, the UC San Diego graduate who co-founded chipmaker Qualcomm, helping fan the growth of everything from cellphones to social media to wearable medical devices, has died, the company said late Friday.“I’m very sad to share that Franklin Antonio, EVP & Chief Scientist, Emeritus, has passed away,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told workers in an internal message.
“He then worked with me at Linkabit and at Qualcomm. He was a key figure in the success of both companies.” Major donors usually talk in broad strokes. But Antonio took a very personal approach in 2019 when he donated $30 million to UCSD for the new engineering building. Albert Pisano, dean of UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering, said, “I will miss Franklin greatly. He was a true visionary and a brilliant engineer.