Mekeni Food Corporation President Pruds Garcia recalls how Filipino Silicon Valley pioneer Dado Banatao spoke in one company scholarship program
of how he wants to be remembered.
In his FB post, Garcia paid tribute to the so-called techpreneur who died on Christmas Day at Stanford University due to undisclosed illness. He was 79 years old.
Garcia recalled that in 2016 an awardee of Galing Ng Batang Mekeni (GNBM) asked Banatao: “With all your success in your career, how do you want to be remembered?”
As the main speaker of the GNBM, Banatao replied: “More than any achievement, I hope to be remembered as a great husband a great father and grandfather, a great brother, and a great friend,” as written by Garcia in his tribute.
“He gently reshaped the meaning of greatness. He reminded us, especially the children, that while achievements may open doors, it is character, love and how we treat the people closest to us that truly define a meaningful life,” wrote Garcia.
The Garcias fondly call Banatao as uncle, as the late Stanford University alumnus was a brother of the father-in-law of Pruds’ brother Doods. Banatao, in his visits to Pampanga, stayed in the homes of the Garcias.
Calling Banatao as a “towering figure in global technology”, Garcia said “he was not only a global icon in technology, but a man deeply present in the lives he touched”.
Considered also as a mentor, Garcia said that Banatao “generously gave his time, a leader who chose to engage with the young and a man whose presence made others feel seen, encouraged, and inspired.”
Garcia shares the pride of the nation as Banatao showed that Filipinos can excel in the global IT engineering industry.
“A visionary engineer and entrepreneur, his innovations helped shape the modern
semiconductor industry. As one of the pioneers behind major breakthroughs in microchip design, and as a Filipino who rose to the highest levels of Silicon Valley, Dado Banatao made our nation proud and showed the world what Filipino excellence, brilliance, and perseverance truly look like.”
