Neil Bonke
Los Altos, CA & Lake Tahoe, NV

Biography

I went to Clarkson University after graduating where I also met my future wife, Karen, who was attending nearby SUNY Potsdam. We got married after graduation in 1964 and moved back to Rochester. I worked for a lot of local companies (Rochester Telephone, Pfaudler, Kayex) initially in engineering, then sales/marketing and finally in management when I became President of Kayex.

We lived in Irondequoit, Bushnell’s Basin and lastly Pittsford where our son and daughter both graduated from (I have learned in later years after living elsewhere that the Monroe County suburban schools are really excellent—we were all fortunate to have attended Penfield High).

In 1987 we moved to the San Jose area of California, better known as “Silicon Valley” where I ran a group of “high tech” companies in the semiconductor industry. We returned east for two years and lived in Boston, but missed California so much that we returned. I got involved in taking a technology company public (IPO) and was CEO until I retired in 1996.

Both our kids followed us to California, working at new age companies like Cisco and EBay, and now have their own families. Karen and I have four grandchildren all living nearby.

We split our time between living in Los Altos (near Palo Alto) and on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. We enjoy traveling, playing a little golf, kayaking, drinking California wine, etc. Life is good!!

Photo: The view from Neil's home in Lake Tahoe