Ricky E. Furtney

Born December 21, 1959 in Champaign, Illinois.
Departed on December 6, 2020 in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida

Ricky E. Furtney, 60, went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Sunday, December 6, 2020
after battling cancer for a year. A celebration of Rick’s life will be held on Saturday, December
19th from 2 to 4 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Melbourne with Pastor Scott Wilson
officiating. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions may be made in
Rick’s name to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes of Brevard (brevardfca.org). A private family
burial will be held at the Shiloh Cemetery in the Township of Newcomb in Illinois to be
scheduled at a later date.
Rick was born December 21, 1959, in Champaign, IL, a son of Richard E. and Mary Sue (Kirby)
Furtney. He grew up with his sister, Theresa, and his brother, Kevin, on a 3rd generation family
farm in Fisher, IL. Rick earned his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Illinois in 1982 and his Master’s in Business Administration from the Florida Tech
in 1992. He met the love of his life, Barbara S. Davis in college at the University of Illinois in
1979, and they were married July 2, 1983, in Fisher, IL. They have been married 37 years and
were blessed with 3 sons. Barbara survives Rick along with their sons, Matthew D. Furtney
(Sarah), Joshua D. Furtney, Isaac T. Furtney (Samantha), and Rick’s sister, Theresa Cox (Brett).
He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Kevin.
Rick Furtney started his career at Harris Semiconductor where he rose to Vice President of
Power Management Products and became a Founding Officer in Intersil when it split from
Harris as a private entity. In 2000, he participated in the IPO preparation of Intersil in what
would become the largest IPO in American Semiconductor history and subsequently became
Vice President and General Manager of Analog Products and Manufacturing Operations, with
1,500 employees around the world. After Intersil, he became Vice President of High Reliability
at International Rectifier, which provided integrated circuits for aerospace and military power
applications. In 2006, he became President and Chief Operating Officer of Intellon, a leading
provider of high-speed powerline communication. He led Intellon through 3x revenue growth
and an IPO until its sale to Atheros/Qualcomm in 2009. In 2014, Rick started his company Areli
Advisors to serve as a consultant and board member for several companies, advising on areas
of power management, medical neuropathy treatment, and many other technologies. He later
joined ON Semiconductor as Senior Director of Strategic Business Ventures where he evaluated
over 150 companies for possible acquisition and investment in a variety of technical fields. In
2018, he led the technology market analysis, evaluation, selection, and international acquisition
of SensL, a company specialized in lidar autonomous driving vehicles technology. Rick often
shared his enthusiasm for his engineering work with his boys, helping to inspire all three of
them to pursue degrees in engineering.
While building a lifetime of career success and accolades, Rick always considered his faith and
family as most important. He was an active member of First Baptist Church of Melbourne. He
also served on the boards for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Sent ETC as part of his
passion to share the Gospel and help others. He prioritized his wife and sons in every decision
he made and supported and encouraged his sons in all of their pursuits. He had an
adventurous spirit and enjoyed his weekends and vacations going fishing, dirt biking, hiking,
and waterskiing with his family. He made sure to impart his knowledge and skills to his sons at
every possible opportunity and was a kind, patient, and forgiving teacher.
Rick’s humility, grace, kindness for people, exceptional business acumen, adventurous spirit,
and above all love for the Lord are forever imprinted on our minds, our hearts, and our lives.
His love for our family will be impossible to replace until we join him in Heaven one day.
Condolences and memories can be shared at www.brownliemaxwell.com.