The company found continual success in the test and measurement industry. For the next decade, LeCroy Corp. would lean on oscilloscopes. High-energy physics instrumentation would become a tangent service.
"We try to make an engineer's life easier. We try to tell them what's going on," LeCroy said. "In my days, we were card and paper. When it was no longer possible to just eyeball it, the analytical part became important" (see "Oscilloscopes: From Simply Viewing To Complex Signal Analysis" at www.electronicdesign.com, ED Online 2291).
Using his experience with physics instruments, LeCroy fabricated a standout oscilloscope that could hold its own even in the shadow of industrial giants like Tektronix and Hewlett-Packard (now Agilent Technologies).
"We made the first digital oscilloscope that operated like a digital oscilloscope," LeCroy said. "A lot of oscilloscopes I believe use what was created here, in this office."
The company was smaller than its competitors, but it was in stride with if not leading them in technology. Still, it needed to stay ahead of the curve to stay afloat. In the 1990s, LeCroy Corp. began stripping away the obsolete models from a decade's worth of production and began focusing on local-area networks (LANs) and computer equipment. Though a turbulent course initially, this leap would prove profitable.
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Today, LeCroy is Honorary Chairman of the Board at LeCroy Corp. With the company well intact, he now pursues other ventures. "My interest [in electronics] is strictly in the company," he said. "I'm not a big iPod man." He has left design and management and returned to his first love.
"I'd like for the company to be known for making serious contributions to measurement technology," he said. "That is an enabling technology for everything else. It's pretty fundamental for humanity, though much of humanity isn't aware of it."
Now, landscapes, textures, patterns, and general things that catch his eye encompass his new subjects of analysis. He even owns an art gallery in Charleston, S.C., where he displays and sells his photographs.
"I love my life in Charleston, but I miss the company a lot," he said. "I miss the involvement. I'm very proud of the scope and the contributions we made to the scope area."
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