Quick Facts
Biography
Ronald "Ron" C. Crane (June 1, 1950 - June 19, 2017) was an American electrical engineer recognized for designing the EtherLink, the first network interface controller for the IBM PC.
Biography
Crane graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his bachelors degree in 1972 and from Stanford University for his masters degree in 1974, both in electrical engineering. He worked at the Xerox Systems Development Division, a spinoff of Xerox PARC, where he was responsible for enhancing the original Ethernet transmission system. Crane joined Robert Metcalfe at 3Com as the fourth employee in 1979.
Crane co-founded LAN Media Corporation with David Boggs, which was later acquired by SBE Incorporated in 2000, which was in turn acquired by Neonode in 2007.
In 2006, Crane endowed a professorship at MIT to support energy-related research.