Medtronic founder Earl Bakken passed away over the weekend at the age of 94, according to the Star Tribune.
Mr. Bakken is credited with developing a pacemaker that has evolved over the years to save thousands of lives. He initially founded Medtronic in 1949 out of a family garage and built it into a large medical device company. Today, the company has around 89,000 full-time employees, according to the report, and it has a market capitalization exceeding $129 billion.
The Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame inducted Mr. Bakken in 1995, and the University of Minnesota named two centers after him: one focused on medical devices and the other on spirituality and healing. Mr. Bakken moved to Hawaii in 1994 and continued medical pursuits while helping to operate a hospital there.
Mr. Bakken passed at his home in Hawaii.
"The contributions Earl made to the field of medical technology simply cannot be overstated," said Medtronic Chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak. "His spirit will live on with us as we work to fulfill the mission he wrote nearly 60 years ago: to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life."
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