Mark R. Templeton, a managing director of venture capital firm Scientific Ventures and co-founder and former president of Artisan Components, drowned July 17 after his inflatable kayak overturned on the Rogue River in Oregon.
The news first appeared July 21 on Business Wire, which quoted the Josephine County (Oregon) Sheriff’s Office. Templeton’s body was not recovered until late July 21.
Templeton, 57, is not to be confused with Mark B. Templeton, who was president and CEO of Citrix Systems from 2001 to 2015.
Templeton, who resided in Los Altos, Calif., was with a group of friends that was traversing Class 3 Wildcat Rapids on the Rogue as a part of a guided tour. He was on a single-person raft that overturned, throwing him into the water, but he did not resurface.
Members of the kayaking tour notified emergency personnel of the incident after making it farther down the river, the San Francisco Chronicle reported July 22.
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 the evening of July 21.
A family spokesman told the Chronicle that Templeton 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 had worked for eight years at Scientific Ventures, an investment and advisory firm specializing in the application of science and technology to new business concepts and models.
Templeton was best known for co-founding Artisan Components in 1991, which provided building blocks for the design and manufacture of integrated circuits.
Artisan was bought by ARM Holdings, a leading semiconductor intellectual property supplier, in 2004 for about $1 billion. ARM is now in the process of being bought by Japan’s Softbank Holdings for $32 billion.
Templeton studied at UC Santa Barbara and Boston University. He is survived by his wife, Betsy; a son, Andrew; and a daughter, Lisa.
Photo courtesy of NBC Bay Area.