Microsoft founding partner dead at 65
Tech icon helped launch revolution in computers
SAN FRANCISCO – Paul Allen, a technology pioneer who helped launch the personal computer revolution as co-founder of Microsoft has died, according to his company, Vulcan Inc.
The cause was complications from nonHodgkin’s lymphoma, a condition that surfaced in 2009 and returned just a few weeks ago. Allen was 65.
On Oct. 1, Allen wrote a short but optimistic note on his personal website, noting that “I’ve begun treatment & my doctors are optimistic that I will see a good result. Appreciate the support I’ve received & count on it as I fight this challenge.”
Washington Gov. Paul Inslee on Monday called Allen “a giant in Washington history.”
Allen helped found Microsoft in 1975 when he was 22, joining his longtime Seattle-area computer pal Bill Gates in a venture that transformed society.
While Gates went on to run Microsoft for decades, finally leaving to focus on his philanthropic efforts, Allen left the company in 1982 because of an illness and never returned full-time.
Instead, Allen, who was worth around $20 billion, quickly pivoted to a range of technology investments as well as a passion for cultural ventures such as the Experience Music Project in Seattle.
Allen also was known as the owner of numerous mega-yachts and sports franchises, including the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks.
Vulcan CEO Bill Hilt, speaking for his company as well as the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers, Stratolaunch Systems, the Allen Institute and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, said in a statement that “Paul’s life was diverse and lived with gusto.
“It reflected his myriad interests in technology, music and the arts, biosciences and artificial intelligence, conservation and in the power of shared experience – in a stadium or a neighborhood – to transform individual lives and whole communities,” Hilf said.
Allen’s sister, Jody Allen, said on the Vulcan site that her brother was a remarkable individual “on every level. While most knew Paul Allen as a technologist and philanthropist, for us he was a much loved brother and uncle, and an exceptional friend.
“Paul’s family and friends were blessed to experience his wit, warmth, his generosity and deep concern,” she wrote. “For all the demands on his schedule, there was always time for family and friends.”
The non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that took Allen’s life is a type of cancer that develops in the body’s white blood cells and lymph nodes, which are part of the immune system. It most often strikes adults, though children can also get it.