"By telling a story, I don't mean story as in make things up," said Robert Metcalfe, the retired founder of the 3Com Corporation.

Sy Schwartz, a retired founder of Fawn Associates, said, "my park was a longshot, but the land was cheap enough and we succeeded by moving very slowly."

Roger Sippl, the retired founder of Informix, wants to be back doing what he's good at; running a software company.

Conan David Duffield is the retired founder of SumaTek, the largest very-high-speed integrated-circuit design company in the world and the pioneer of nanotechnology.

"The board concluded that PeopleSoft is worth substantially more than Oracle's latest offer," said David A. Duffield, the retired founder of PeopleSoft who was reinstated as chief executive last month.

To John C. Bogle, the retired founder of the Vanguard Group, America's continued infatuation with technology sector funds has not brought out the best in the mutual fund industry.

Craig Colgate Jr., the retired founder and publisher of Columbia Books Inc., died Friday at his home in Bethesda, Md., after a long illness.

He is the retired founder and Director of the Digital Music Program at Cornell University.

Added Louis Rubin, the retired founder and publisher of Algonquin: "The first book was an apologia, a justification of a life, explaining things away."

Dr. Richard Swanson is the retired founder of the SunPower Corporation, a solar photovoltaic cell manufacturer.