Embedded computing industry mourns loss of Joe Pavlat, president of PCI trade association

THE MIL & AERO COMMENTARY, 6 Sept. 2016. Longtime embedded computing industry champion Joe Pavlat, 63, died last week, 31 Aug. 2016, at his home in Grass Valley, Calif. He had been president and chairman of the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) in Wakefield, Mass., since the group's inception in 1994.

Pavlat reportedly didn't answer phone calls from his PICMG colleagues for several days, which caused concern. He was found deceased at his home in Grass Valley, located east of San Francisco in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Pavlat had been an active participant in the embedded computing industry for more than 36 years. He split his time between homes in Monterey, Calif., and Grass Valley.

Pavlat rarely took the easy or simple route, friends say. Everyone who knew him or had the opportunity to work with him knew he was straightforward, a bit opinionated, extraordinarily caring, and loyal.

Pavlat, born Joseph Pavlat in Madison, Wis., on 4 Feb. 1953, rarely was known as Joseph in the close-knit embedded computing industry. He was just Joe -- intelligent, engaging, even folksy -- and a tireless advocate of open-systems computing technologies that include CompactPCI, AdvancedTCA, COM Express, MicroTCA, Advanced MC (AMC), CompactPCI Serial, SHB Express, PCI-ISA, and several related open-systems embedded computing standards that have yet to be introduced.

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While at PICMG he was directly involved in developing the CompactPCI and AdvancedTCA standards. In addition to his executive leadership role at PICMG, Pavlat also was editorial director of the PICMG Systems & Technology publication of Open Systems Media in Fountain Hills, Ariz., and was owner of Cypress Point Research in Grass Valley, Calif.

Pavlat previously had been director of advanced development at the Motorola Computer Group in Phoenix (now Artesyn Embedded Technologies); vice president of engineering at Pro-Log Corp. in Monterey, Calif.; vice president of Parker Hannifin in Cleveland; and a hardware engineer for Dunn Instruments.

While at Motorola Pavlat had many friends and colleagues who today still are active members of the embedded computing industry, such as Jerry Gipper, executive director of the VITA Open Standards, Open Markets trade association in Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Wayne McGee, vice president of sales and general manager of North American Operations at CES Creative Electronic Systems SA in Raleigh, N.C.

While away from his embedded computing pursuits, Pavlat also enjoyed fishing in the Sierra foothills, was a licensed pilot of small airplanes, drove sports cars, hiked, camped, and traveled. He also was a volunteer pilot for the Monterey County Sheriff's Department Aero Squadron.

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He stayed connected to physics -- one of his original passions -- throughout his adult life by participating in experiments in Antarctica and on top of the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii.

Pavlat was the son of electrical engineer and computer enthusiast Russell A. Pavlat, and followed in his father's professional footsteps. Pavlat's father had been an engineer for the state of Wisconsin, retiring in 1981. His mother was Veronica Pavlat. Pavlat's father died in 2005 and his mother died in 1991. Pavlat had a brother, Russell, who died before him. Surviving is his wife Denise Pavlat.

Per his wishes, no services are scheduled.

For more information contact PICMG online at www.picmg.org. Pavlat's most recent technology articles and features are online at http://picmg.mil-embedded.com/author/joe-pavlat.

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