Eli Zelkha in Memoriam

Jorge Villa

It was late December in 1979 and the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Thousands of troops poured into the country to strengthen the current pro-Soviet government in the country’s ongoing civil war. For Kandahar Designs, an American clothing designer and manufacturer, it spelled the beginning of the end of its successful run doing business in Afghanistan. Kandahar had grown from a simple exporter of garments to the U.S. and into the country’s largest consumer goods exporter to the U.S. and Europe. It was Afghanistan’s first significant textile and apparel manufacturer, employing hundreds of Afghanis and featured in Mademoiselle magazine as a cutting-edge designer fusing Eastern and Western styles.

At twenty-two years old, with only a degree in international relations from Colgate University, Eli Zelkha, Kandahar Designs’ co-founder, had started a business that would achieve what many only dream of. He followed his instincts from the beginning. He had gone to Afghanistan in 1972 with his friend Archie to buy goods that they would bring back and then sell for a profit. Eli was simply trying to make some extra money to help him get through graduate school at Columbia University, where he would study international business. He ended up building a successful company that employed and changed the lives of hundreds of people in Afghanistan.

Eli had met Archie at Colgate and in the summer after graduation, they ventured to Kabul, Afghanistan, with $5,000 to find treasures that they planned to bring back to the U.S. and sell for a profit. As the story goes, they spent most of their money on a beautiful tiger skin. They also bought men’s wedding shirts and almost two hundred tribal Afghani guns and rifles. When they returned, the U.S. Customs officials confiscated the tiger skin because it was illegal to bring that into the country. The sale of the guns never took off, and Eli ended up keeping many of them for himself; they would later decorate his home in Palo Alto. But the shirts gave Eli an entry into his first business venture.

Kandahar Designs went from importer to a manufacturing company and then eventually became a major fashion design company. It would propel Eli into the world of business and entrepreneurship. With Kandahar, Eli experienced tremendous business success and he also met with his first business failure. His company was forced to end its run in Afghanistan after the occupation by Russia in 1979. This had been the only job Eli had ever had, so he tried to re-energize his business, but after a couple of years he was ready for a fresh start.

Eli felt that he had failed in his business and failed to protect his family. He had not saved up as much money as he would have liked and being out of work really caught him off guard. As always, Eli eventually saw the silver lining in what many might consider a failure. It would lead him to explore a graduate degree in business and he headed west with his wife and children to attend the GSB.

It was this misfortune in Eli’s business career that brought us together at Stanford University. I met Eli on my first day at the GSB, as we both started a pre-school seminar that was meant to bring us up to speed for the MBA program in September, 1983. During a break from class, I noticed this friendly character who was really enjoying a cigarette. I had stopped smoking after I graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso, but seeing this guy just made me crave a cigarette. I approached him and we introduced ourselves and then of course I asked him for a cigarette.

We clicked instantly and he would become one of my best friends. That weekend I met his beautiful wife Alice and their two young children, Darius and Jeremy, at a Stanford Business School picnic. Their daughter Chloe was born later, after business school, in 1990. They became my family at Stanford Business School and we remained friends ever after.
Eli and Alice made a wonderful team. Alice worked as a nurse while Eli was attending business school. They were beautiful parents together. I always remember Alice cooking these very nice meals that I got to enjoy on a weekly basis. Though Alice came from El Paso and only really knew Mexican food, she learned to cook Persian dishes, which were what Eli ate as a boy. Her cooking, which I recall as American/Persian, was like a breath of fresh air. Eli and Alice always made me feel like a member of their family and I got to see Darius and Jeremy grow up over the years.

Eli the Risk Taker

Eli was born into an Arab-Jewish family in Tehran, Iran. His parents were born in Iraq and Eli would describe himself as Iraqi-Iranian. His family was part of an ancient line of cohanim that extended back to Baghdad’s original Jewish communities. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world’s oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities. When Eli was fourteen, his family moved to Israel but after a couple of years decided to move back to Iran. At this point, Eli decided to venture west and he came to the U.S and enrolled in a prep school for his last two years of high school.

Eli Zelkha was never afraid of risk. He was only seventeen when he came on his own to this country. It is hard for me to imagine that I would even consider making such a move at that age. I stayed home and went to my hometown college, while he came to a different country, six thousand miles from home, and away from his family, as a teenager. He then attended Colgate and received a degree in international relations.

After Eli received his MBA from the GSB in 1985, he went to work at Tandem Computer in Cupertino, where he would rise to the level of vice president of strategy and ventures. There he led Tandem’s entry into new ventures, including a high-visibility partnership with Steven Spielberg’s Starbright Networks, a foundation dedicated to improving sick children’s lives through technology-based programs. After Tandem was acquired by Compaq, Eli continued his work on new ventures. He also did corporate venture capital development for Philips Consumer Electronics.

Eli eventually started four other companies, including Euro Profile/iProfile, LiveWall, Palo Alto Ventures, and Vemm Brazil. Euro Profile was founded by Eli and his son Jeremy, who had recently graduated from Oberlin College. Jeremy would work at night since they did business with European companies. He was in charge of operations, while Eli handled sales. They worked well together, as their venture became very profitable and was sold in 2008.

LiveWall did not do as well. It was 1997 and it was based on an idea that was way ahead of its time. Today, we have many apps that replicate this very idea, which is to use the Internet to bring people together from distant sites. Originally, Eli envisioned that a live digital wall would be installed in a large public place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and people there would be able to digitally touch folks in Palo Alto. Today, of course we use Zoom or Google Meet on a daily basis to meet with people at anytime and anywhere we want.

Eli was an Inventor and the Father of Ambient Intelligence

One story Eli liked to tell about growing up in Iran, was that the family had a home assistant who helped to take care of his father. This woman had a very good understanding of how his dad liked to relax and she would prepare the environment just the way he liked it. She would play the music he enjoyed and would open the window slightly so a breeze would flow through. She would have his crystal glass and ashtray ready, together with some American cigarettes. She understood his needs and could anticipate everything he wanted. Together with the concepts of ubiquitous computing, this story inspired Eli to develop the concept of ambient intelligence.

Eli’s basic idea was that the computer’s intelligence would reside not just in the device, but on the entire network. This network would anticipate our needs and adapt the environment for us personally, focusing all of the technology on the person. So together with Simon Birrell, Clark Dodsworth, Doug Randall, and Brian Epstein, Eli invented and developed the concept of Ambient Intelligence. They coined the term “Ambient Intelligence” and it became part of the core strategies of many of the world’s biggest tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Today, of course, we see many adaptations of this concept on our phones, computers, home appliances, and the Internet, as these devices adapt to our personal needs and habits.

This was Eli’s foremost technology achievement and he would be called “the father of Ambient Intelligence,” a term for electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Dedicated Ambient Intelligence Labs were established at Stanford University, MIT’s Media Lab, the National University of Singapore, NTT, and Philips.

Just as the story of his dad and his home assistant were key to this great concept, Eli would tell many stories to introduce other concepts and strategies. His seminar “The Art of Failure” on YouTube incorporates the story of Eli’s trip to Afghanistan with his friend Archie. Eli told a story with such energy, passion, and body language that he made you feel like you were there. These stories always drove the point home. He might be talking about or teaching a complicated business theme or strategy, but the story helped make his point in a very simple way.

In 2004 Eli began teaching as an adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. He taught seminars on “The Art of Failure” and “Corporate and International Venture Capital.” He always found the silver lining in situations, so he taught others that failures should be viewed as an opportunity, rather than a mistake. In his course “The Art of Failure,” he used the story of his trip to Afghanistan with his college buddy Archie as a major learning experience. Many of Eli’s personal, family, and business stories became the background to his seminars and classes at Middlebury.

Eli Saw the Best in People

Eli could talk to the CEO of a major company or a low-level employee of that same company and treat them both with the same courtesy and respect. He always saw the best in people and he treated them equally. He was always interested in people and their stories. Whether you were a friend or family member, Eli always wanted the best for you and taught you to always work hard for the best results.

If you did business with Eli, you would eventually become his friend. Many of his business buddies and partners came to be his best friends. His personal and professional histories were intimately intertwined. Eli was a friend, counselor, confidant, teacher, advisor, and much more. He was the best friend you could ever have. He saw the best in people and always helped his friends look on the bright side. He helped you see the big picture and took every opportunity to help his friends improve both their professional and personal lives.

Eli was my Son’s Godfather

It was November of 1999 and my wife was pregnant with our second baby. We knew he was a boy but could not agree on a name. We had already gone through two baby name books and my wife was due in late December. My mom wanted us to name him Jorge, after me, but I had decided I did not want that for my son. My grandfather had named my dad after himself, Miguel. Then my dad named my oldest brother Miguel. And of course my brother named his firstborn Miguel. This idea did not appeal to me at all.

One weekend we made a list of names of people we knew, names that we both liked. It was about a week before Thanksgiving. One of those names was “Eli.” Eli Zelkha had been one of my best friends since business school and he was like an uncle to my daughter Zaira. So on Thanksgiving Day we asked my brother Hector, who is a Catholic priest, to suggest some biblical names. He had invited five other priests to the event and they were all sitting around the table after dinner. They all got to work and came up with a list or twelve names or so. “Eli” was the first name on their list. Eli is a Hebrew name and it means “high, ascended, or My God.” I felt as if God were baptizing my son. So my wife and I decided to name our son “Eli.”

My son was born on December 28th, 1999, and on that day we gave Eli and Alice Zelkha the news about our son’s name. Eli was elated and we asked him and Alice if they would be godparents to our baby. Of course they accepted. Eli’s Zelkha’s true name was Elias, but everyone knew him as Eli. He was very happy to have a namesake.

Eli Villa has grown up to be a successful young man and proud to be the godson of Eli and Alice Zelkha. He graduated as valedictorian from Americas High School in 2018 and remembered his godfather in his speech:

When I was born, my parents struggled to choose a name that they liked. After considering hundreds of names, they decided to name me after my godfather, Eli. Throughout my childhood, my godfather was there for me in every way imaginable. I was always greeted by a gift in the mail every Christmas followed by a “Happy Birthday” email three days later. As I grew older, Eli became my personal mentor who guided me through life with his educational advice and unconditional support. I never failed to appreciate that my godfather was the person who gave me the most, whether it was a toy or a piece of wisdom.”

Eli was really a godfather to both my kids. He treated them as his family and he loved to visit us and spend time with both Zaira and Eli. He always encouraged them and helped to drive their success. Zaira is now a third-year medical student at McGovern Medical School in Houston. Eli is a junior at MIT, his dream school since middle school. I know that as parents we helped guide our kids to success, but it would not be the same without the support of Eli and Alice.

Eli Zelkha Makes his First Communion

When I asked my brother Hector, the priest, if Eli and Alice could be my son’s godparents, he said that non-Catholics could not be godparents. They could only stand as witnesses to the baptism. When I told Eli this, he simply said, “No sweat, let’s do it.” Either way he would be called “godfather.” So my brother Hector and sister-in-law Maria Luz were the “official” Catholic godparents and little Eli was baptized at St. Stephen’s Church in El Paso, Texas, on August 5th, 2000.

My brother celebrated a special mass for just the family and a few friends. We went through the baptism ritual and both Eli and Alice held our baby during this ceremony. Towards the end of Mass, we take communion and only those Catholics who have gone through a lengthy educational process as kids are allowed to take part in this. Of course Eli Zelkha stood up and got in line to participate. My wife and I looked at each other and figured we should not make a fuss about it.

My brother saw that Eli was in line and looked at me and I just shrugged my shoulders and looked back. It’s a good thing my brother played along and let Eli participate and take the holy bread and wine. After mass I said to Eli, “You do know you weren’t supposed to do that, right?” I remember his reply like it was yesterday. He said, “Hey Jorge, If I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna go all the way, man!”

This was classic Eli Zelkha. He was a beautiful person. He was a simple and kind man who touched so many of us throughout his life. He was a visionary and he was one of a kind. He was the greatest friend you could ever have.