Frank Rudy, the inventor of the Nike Air Sole technology, has died

By Steve Beaven, The Oregonian

December 24, 2009, 6:31PM

Late in life, Frank Rudy  turned his attention from athletic shoes to cancer, funding research and working with doctors at clinics in Ohio and New York. 

But Rudy, who died Dec. 13 at the age of 84 at his home in California, is best known as an inventor who created the Air Sole technology that helped make Nike a booming business in the 1980s and the leading manufacturer of athletic shoes in the world. 

"Frank Rudy holds a singular place in the pantheon of Nike innovation," Mark Parker,  president and chief executive of Nike, said in a written statement.