In the small city where I live we have a real bank. Not a branch of a bank based 200 or 2000 miles away. No, a real bank. Real tellers who are full-time employees. Real people who are always there to talk to. Real lenders who have money to lend, and want to lend, to projects in the community. So, although there is no danger that the shareholders will ever listen to the courting songs of the larger, quasi-national, banks it was a sad day in town when the bank's president retired a couple of weeks ago.

In the all-afternoon party held in the bank this wonderful man held court with hundreds of locals -- customers and not -- to say farewell to his job, but not the community. He has been the guide for many things, was always there for charitable work, was always on the local committees that needed him. He retired for health reasons but it was actually a second retirement after he got out of one of those bigger banks nearly ten years ago and was recruited for us instead of being allowed to retire.

But it is strange that quite often the people you think you know actually have stuff about themselves hidden away; this man, it turns out, was only living among us because his wife insisted that they get out of the East (San Francisco) Bay after he was kidnapped by bank robbers and held hostage -- until these gentlemen were shot to death by the police. You would never have guessed that he had lived through such trauma.

And it got me thinking about retirements in the analog semiconductor industry. We seem to have reached the point in a number of companies where the old guard -- some of them founders, some not -- have reached the point where they want to retire, have to retire, or want to cash in (or out) to enjoy themselves. In the last couple of years these retirements have sped up; and there are more to come.

In the larger companies, the ones not still operated by founders, we have seen changes -- but they have not been dramatic: Either people have moved up to take the place of the retirees, or a small specialized area has been left barren. But in the smaller companies the changes can be dramatic.

One thing is fairly common in the smaller companies. The retirees are held to the company under a consultancy agreement; this keeps them from being poached by others and persuaded to un-retire, and it also keeps the group medical benefits going.

One company in the Valley has lost its marketing direction entirely; those left somehow think that publicity just happens with press releases and that data-sheet type ads are all that are needed to get design wins. Another company is preparing for the departure of one founder by splitting his responsibilities into three pairs of hands -- when all three have rather more ambition than that and are squabbling already about the throne that each of them wants.

One major retirement was secured, of course, by selling the company, and a couple of other retirements are actively in the works with Wall Street applying more than a little pressure; one could wish that those who work on and around that strange locale had enough understanding of the analog semiconductor sector to even recognize and distinguish one company from another.

But the biggest surprise this year was the departure of a man who just plain decided he wanted to take the money he had made from options and go enjoy his family. His boss is already being punished by the CEO for allowing it to happen (I didn't say that our industry is full of natural managers). His departure was a surprise because that is simply not the done thing; the many millionaires in our industry are generally paranoid about making more . . . and more . . . and more. I for one wish him the best; I understand the importance of lifestyle -- one of the many reasons I live in a small community with a real bank.

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