Ed Turney | AMD cofounder, 79

Ed Turney, 79, the cofounder of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., died of brain cancer Wednesday at a retirement home in Cupertino, Calif., according to his brother George Turney.

Mr. Turney's first jobs at semiconductor manufacturer AMD - which was founded in 1969 - included buying equipment and overseeing construction of the company's first chip factory. He also built a sales organization and developed a network of electronics distributors.

He was born in Brooklyn in 1929. After high school, he joined the Navy and became an electronics technician. He worked at Fairchild Semiconductor before helping to found Sunnyvale-based AMD.

Mr. Turney left AMD in 1974, going on to work for smaller semiconductor manufacturing and distribution companies. He also served as a consultant to start-ups.

- AP