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In memory of
Ricky Eugene Furtney
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Ricky's obituary
Rick was born December 21, 1959, in Champaign, IL, a son of Richard E. and Mary Sue (Kirby) Furtney. He grew up with his sister, Theresa, and his brother, Kevin, on a 3rd generation family farm in Fisher, IL. Rick earned his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1982 and his Master’s in Business Administration from the Florida Tech in 1992. He met the love of his life, Barbara S. Davis in college at the University of Illinois in 1979, and they were married July 2, 1983, in Fisher, IL. They have been married 37 years and were blessed with 3 sons. Barbara survives Rick along with their sons, Matthew D. Furtney (Sarah), Joshua D. Furtney, Isaac T. Furtney (Samantha), and Rick’s sister, Theresa Cox (Brett). He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Kevin.
Rick Furtney started his career at Harris Semiconductor where he rose to Vice President of Power Management Products and became a Founding Officer in Intersil when it split from Harris as a private entity. In 2000, he participated in the IPO preparation of Intersil in what would become the largest IPO in American Semiconductor history and subsequently became Vice President and General Manager of Analog Products and Manufacturing Operations, with 1,500 employees around the world. After Intersil, he became Vice President of High Reliability at International Rectifier, which provided integrated circuits for aerospace and military power applications. In 2006, he became President and Chief Operating Officer of Intellon, a leading provider of high-speed powerline communication. He led Intellon through 3x revenue growth and an IPO until its sale to Atheros/Qualcomm in 2009. In 2014, Rick started his company Areli Advisors to serve as a consultant and board member for several companies, advising on areas of power management, medical neuropathy treatment, and many other technologies. He later joined ON Semiconductor as Senior Director of Strategic Business Ventures where he evaluated over 150 companies for possible acquisition and investment in a variety of technical fields. In 2018, he led the technology market analysis, evaluation, selection, and international acquisition of SensL, a company specialized in lidar autonomous driving vehicles technology. Rick often shared his enthusiasm for his engineering work with his boys, helping to inspire all three of them to pursue degrees in engineering.
While building a lifetime of career success and accolades, Rick always considered his faith and family as most important. He was an active member of First Baptist Church of Melbourne. He also served on the boards for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Sent ETC as part of his passion to share the Gospel and help others. He prioritized his wife and sons in every decision he made and supported and encouraged his sons in all of their pursuits. He had an adventurous spirit and enjoyed his weekends and vacations going fishing, dirt biking, hiking, and waterskiing with his family. He made sure to impart his knowledge and skills to his sons at every possible opportunity and was a kind, patient, and forgiving teacher.
Rick’s humility, grace, kindness for people, exceptional business acumen, adventurous spirit, and above all love for the Lord are forever imprinted on our minds, our hearts, and our lives. His love for our family will be impossible to replace until we join him in Heaven one day.
Condolences and memories can be shared at www.brownliemaxwell.com.
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Created with love by
Isaac Furtney (Ricky's son).
