much of his energy, Eichinger volunteered huge amounts of his time at the University of Washington. He was such an active mentor for young entrepreneurs on campus that engineering dean Matt O’Donnell joked at an award ceremony in January that he wasn’t sure how Eichinger had enough time to run businesses. Eichinger’s impact was strong enough that he was given the first volunteer award from the UW’s bioengineering department in January. When news spread of his diagnosis, a friend established a website at caringbridge.org, which now has more than 500 comments from friends and family.
Outside of work, Eichinger spent much of his time with the Boy Scouts and school activities of his two sons—Joey, 18, and Luke, 17. Eichinger made sure to attend the competitive rowing events of his older son and basketball games of his younger son at Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett, his wife says. His oldest son had been planning to attend Dartmouth University and join the rowing team there, until a few days later, he learned of his Dad’s cancer diagnosis, Mary Eichinger says. The decision was made that he’d stay closer to home to be near his father while time was short, and to attend the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.
“It changed our lives. Joey wanted to stay closer to home,” she says.
I interviewed Eichinger at least a half-dozen times over the years for The Seattle Times and Xconomy, but a lot of readers certainly knew him better than I did. So if you have any memories of Joe that you’d like to share with the Seattle innovation community, please feel free to add a comment at the bottom of this story or send me a note directly at [email protected] and I’ll add it as an update.
Eichinger’s funeral will be held at 1:30 pm on Saturday, March 13, at Immaculate Conception church in Everett.
