Columbia Engineering Mourns IT Exec and Entrepreneur Edward Botwinick BS’58

Columbia Engineering mourns the loss of Edward Botwinick ‘56CC, BS‘58, who passed away Jan. 24, 2025. Botwinick was an IT entrepreneur, a pioneer in the area of time division multiplexing (TDM), and a strong supporter of Columbia University and Columbia Football. 

Botwinick received his BA in physics from Columbia College in 1956 and his BS in electrical engineering in 1958. He began his career working for US Semiconductor in 1958 and co-founded Silicon Transistor Corp. in 1960. The company went public and was acquired in 1963. From 1963 to 1967, he served as president and principal shareholder of Quantum Inc., a tape drive and scalable file storage manufacturer. 

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In 1969, Botwinick helped found the data communications firm Timeplex, Inc., which became a leading provider of T1-based networks. At the time, he was working at Goldman Sachs, where he was vice president of investment research from 1967 to 1977. From 1977 to 1988, he served as Timplex’s chairman and chief executive officer, overseeing a series of increasingly successful statistical multiplexer products leading up to the LINK family of T-1 multiplexers. 

In 1988, Timeplex was acquired by Unisys Corp. and Botwinick assumed the roles of senior vice president and president of its Unisys Networks division. He retired from Unisys in 1989. In 1991 Botwinick founded VideoServer Inc., a producer of telecommunications and networking equipment, serving as the firm's chairman and chief executive officer until 1993. After a successful career as a serial entrepreneur, he became the president of the Botwinick-Wolfensohn Foundation, a family foundation established by his father, Benjamin Botwinick. 

A University Trustee Emeritus (1988 to 1994), Botwinick also sat on the board of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He is also a former vice chair of the University Engineering Council. In 1996, Columbia Engineering named a multimedia electronic learning facility after Botwinick–The Botwinick Gateway Laboratory on the 12th floor of the Seeley W. Mudd Engineering Building. 

In addition to his interest in Columbia Football, Botwinick was an avid pilot and his Columbia connections were vast. His father, Benjamin Botwinick graduated from Columbia Business School in 1926 and his sister, Elaine R. Wolfensohn from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1961. 

Lead Photo Caption: Columbia Engineering alumnus, Edward Botwinick

Lead Photo Credit: University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries