In Memoriam
Joseph “Joe” Pekarek passed away on September 16, 2026, at the age of 60. He received the BSEE degree from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1988, the MSEE degree from California State University, Northridge, in 1991, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1996.
Dr. Pekarek began his career at Hughes Aircraft Company, where he developed advanced MMICs while pursuing his doctorate. In 1994, he founded Applied Wave Research (AWR) to build an integrated, object-oriented design environment that brought schematic capture, layout, and circuit and electromagnetic simulation together in a single tool. The result, Microwave Office, was first shown at the 1998 International Microwave Symposium in Baltimore. As its architect, founder and lead developer, he guided its growth into the AWR Design Environment, which came to include Visual System Simulator for communication systems, Analog Office for RFIC design, and the AXIEM and Analyst electromagnetic simulators.
He led AWR as its Chief Executive Officer and, following its acquisition by National Instruments in 2011, continued as CEO of the AWR Group. When AWR joined Cadence Design Systems in 2020, he was named a Cadence Fellow. The platform he conceived continues to serve microwave engineers in industry and universities worldwide.
Under his technical leadership, AWR’s products earned repeated industry recognition, and he held patents in coplanar waveguide couplers and system simulation. In 2005, he received the IEEE MTT-S Outstanding Young Engineer Award.
Although reserved by nature, Joe was admired not only for his technical brilliance but also for his kindness, integrity, and generosity. He is survived by his wife, Kristin, and their sons, Jake and Zack.