VIDEO: A tribute to the late Robert Beyster

In late January, the family and friends of the late Robert Beyster held a celebration of the founder of Science Applications International Corp.

The event was held in his hometown of San Diego, and video tributes from the event were posted in recent weeks online at his blog, www.beyster.com.

Beyster was the founder of SAIC, and from 1969 to his retirement in 2004, he built it from a few contracts into an $8 billion employee-owned company. He died on Dec. 22 at the age of 90.

The company, of course, has changed tremendously in the decade since he retired. It is now two publicly traded companies – Leidos and SAIC. But Beyster’s lessons live on.

In particular is a philosophy behind Beyster’s brand of employee-ownership: All of us are smarter than one of us.

I’ve posted below a tribute video that was played at the celebration of Beyster’s life last month. You’ll hear his voice and see photos of his life. You’ll hear a bit about the founding of SAIC and what a remarkable place he tried to create. But more than that, I think you’ll feel something, too. I know I did.

I’ve also embedded the entire video of the celebration where you’ll hear tributes from people who knew him well, including his daughter, Mary Ann Beyster. His business acumen and love of technology and science are well known, but I never would have guessed that Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety were among his favorite movies. Radio Shack was his favorite store.