Based in Silicon Valley, California, he was an early investor in major firms including Intel, Apple, Scientific Data Systems and Teledyne.

[2][3][4] He was an only child and his father owned a small candy store where Rock worked in his youth.

[8] In 1968, Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and another Fairchild employee named Andy Grove, were ready to start a new company, Intel.

Rock raised $2.5 million of convertible debentures from a limited group of private investors in one day.

[10] Rock's investments and personal guidance helped launch and govern a roster of corporate firms including Intel, Apple, Scientific Data Systems, Teledyne, Xerox, Argonaut Insurance, AirTouch, the Nasdaq Stock Market, and Echelon Corporation.

The latter is a direct consequence of the ongoing growth of the capital-intensive semiconductor industry— innovative and popular products mean more profits, meaning more capital available to invest in ever higher levels of large-scale integration, which in turn leads to the creation of even more innovative products.

Mr. Rock was co-founder and past president of The Basic Fund which gives scholarships to inner city children to attend K-8 private schools.

He is also on the board of Teach for America and Children's Scholarship Fund and an active funder of KIPP[14] Rock has donated to many political causes, especially in the area of education.