Businessman Bruce Allen Henderson was showering one day in 1997 when he had a thought.
He wondered, What if my company invented a part that let a house's entire system of heating, cooling and washing appliances communicate with one another, no matter the appliance manufacturer?
Six months later, while visiting one of his company's laboratories, he discovered an engineer's design for a chip that would do exactly what he had imagined. The chip, dubbed a "smart module," was introduced at a European trade show in 1999.
It was classic applied Henderson imagination, according to David N. Martin, who helped develop the module's concept.
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Mr. Henderson, former chief executive of Invensys Control Systems and of Invensys Software Systems, died of brain cancer Monday at his home in Harpswell, Maine.
The 58-year-old Nutley, N.J., native got his first look at Richmond in 1973, when he attended a friend's wedding.
He had just earned bachelor's degrees in engineering and political science from Brown University and was embarking on a business career that would lead to top management positions for some of the world's leading manufacturers and to an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.
He returned to Richmond in 1995 to run Robertshaw Controls, which BTR Siebe had bought from Reynolds Metals Co. in 1986.
During more than a decade of Siebe mergers and name changes, Mr. Henderson led Siebe Appliance Controls, a manufacturer of controls, sensors and other systems used in homes and businesses, which he grew to $900 million in annual sales, as well as the $3.2 billion BTR Siebe Controls, with its 30,000 employees in 100 factories in 16 countries. It later became Invensys Control Systems.
"Bruce was very open and forward-thinking in so many ways as we were going into the technology world. He had great people skills. His executives were climbing the hill for him," Martin said.
After leading Invensys Software Systems, Mr. Henderson went into semi-retirement in 2003 to focus on his publications about lean manufacturing. He was recruited as CEO of Imation Corp., a Minnesota-based global data storage and consumer technology company, in May 2004 and later became its chairman. He left Imation in April, eight months after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.
"He excelled at everything he did in life, especially friendships," said his wife, Carla Lejade.
Mr. Henderson had served on the boards of the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation, the former TheatreVirginia and the Virginia Commonwealth University Engineering School Foundation. He had been a member of the Richmond Management Roundtable.
Survivors besides his wife include two daughters, Anna Ford Henderson of Boston and Emily Sterret of Richmond.
A funeral will be held Saturday at his home in Harpswell. Memorial services also will be held in Malibu, Calif., where he maintained another home, and in Richmond.