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Report ID# 4069

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Accident Description

Semiconductor innovator Mark Templeton dies at 57

By Kevin Schultz

Saturday, July 23, 2016 A prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist whose work centered on scientific and technological advances died on an Oregon river after being thrown from a kayak and getting trapped underwater, officials said Friday. Mark R. Templeton, 57, of Los Altos, a managing director of the venture capital firm Scientific Ventures and co-founder and former president of Artisan Components, drowned Sunday after his inflatable kayak overturned on the Rogue River’s Class 3 Wildcat Rapids, according to the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office.

Templeton, who was traveling with a group of friends as a part of a guided tour, was on a single-person raft that overturned, throwing him into the water. He did not resurface.

Emergency mission

Members of the kayaking tour notified emergency personnel of the incident after making it farther down the river. Rescue crews attempted a recovery mission by floating down from the Grave Creek boat landing, about 5 miles upriver from the rapids, and found Templeton lodged about 2 feet down in the water. Templeton’s body remained trapped in the water through the week, with the crews finally able to retrieve it Thursday evening.

Templeton is survived by his wife, Betsy; a son, Andrew; and a daughter, Lisa. Templeton had worked for eight years at Scientific Ventures, an investment and advisory firm specializing in the application of science and technology toward new business concepts and models. Templeton may best be known for his role in co-founding Artisan Components in 1991. His company provided building blocks for the design and manufacture of integrated circuits, leading EE Times to name him to that publication’s “Hot 25” list in 1999. Artisan was bought by ARM Holdings, the world’s leading semiconductor intellectual property supplier, in 2004 for just under $1 billion. ARM is now in the process of being bought by Japan’s SoftBank Holdings for $32 billion.

Templeton also served as a board member for numerous tech companies and other Bay Area organizations. Templeton, a family spokesman said, was an avid kayaker who had crossed many rivers and lakes, including those as close as the Russian River and as far away as the Pacuare River in Costa Rica. Templeton’s family is expected to hold a memorial service in his honor at a later date.

Kevin Schultz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kevinedschultz

UPDATE: Rescue crews have recovered the body.

The sheriff said the water pressure was holding the body down and clothing had been snagged on a rock in two and a half feet of water. He was still wearing his helmet and life jacket.

JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. - A man from Los Altos, California drowned on the Rogue River on July 17 while on a guided kayaking tour, according to a statement from Josephine County Sheriff's Office.

Around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday JCSO responded to reports of a drowning incident on the wild and scenic stretch of the Rogue River. Mark Templeton , 57, had been on a multi-day guided tour when his kayak flipped over near Wildcat Rapid and he never resurfaced. He was wearing a life jacket.

Guides of the tour were said to have found the body pinned underwater and authorities are working to remove him. Boaters in the wild and scenic section are asked to use extreme caution and to float "river right."

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