Grocer's Land Deal Led To Airport

If you think about it, Silicon Valley would be a very different place without Ernie Renzel. Before computers, before cell phones -- before any of the innovations that came from the valley near San Jose (CA), Ernie was looking at the big picture.

In 1939, Renzel (right) -- a wholesale grocer -- negotiated a deal for 483 acres of land. He figured that a city like San Jose needed an airport -- that aviation was vital to the city's future.

In 1945, test pilot Jim Nissen helped Renzel launch what is now Mineta San Jose International Airport. Nissen went on to become airport manager, while Renzel, then a city council member, went on to become mayor of San Jose.

Now 97-years old, Renzel was honored last week for the vision thing -- the stuff that silicone dreams are made of, according to dignitaries who spoke at the ceremony.

"When you look at men like Ernie Renzel, you realize this is our legacy," City Councilwoman Chavez told Mike Cassidy, a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News. "It's not a new, new thing. This is what made Silicon Valley."

Renzel seems to be a quiet, self-effacing man with no interest in glory. He didn't want the airport named for him. Cassidy writes that Renzel always thought the airport should be named for the city it serves. And, in a way, it will be.

While the airport is still called Mineta San Jose International, the actual airfield is now called Ernie Renzel Field and the new passenger facility is called the James Nissen Terminal.

FMI: www.sjc.org