Medtronic ($MDT) co-founder Earl Bakken missed the Minnesota device giant's annual meeting on Aug. 22 for the first time in decades. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported his absence, and CEO Omar Ishrak noted that during this year's gathering, Bakken, 89, listened to the meeting from his home in Hawaii. Bakken has attended all 56 of the company's previous annual meetings, according to the article. He co-founded Medtronic in 1949 with his brother-in-law in a Minneapolis garage, and developed the first wearable battery-powered external pacemaker. Story