Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, died on Monday aged 65. The world renown billionaire died in Seattle from complications related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which is a cancer of the lymphatic system.
Allen changed the world in a lot of ways after he founded Microsoft (MSFT) with Bill Gates in 1975. After Allen was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, he left the company in 1982, but he stayed on the company’s board of directors for several years. Gates mourned the death of his dearest friend, saying, “ Personal computing would not have existed without him.”
Paul Allen was a great philanthropist. He founded his philanthropic foundation and was variously engaged in charitable giving. In 2014 he donated at least $100 million to help fight the Ebola virus. In 2017, he also gave $ 30 million to the homeless people in Seattle. He made his contribution to charity even after his death, donating more than $2 billion out of his $20.3 billion fortune.
Allen also was the owner of two professional sports teams: the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. He was also the founder of several organizations including Stratolaunch (space transportation company), the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and another institute that focuses on bioscience. “Paul Allen believed that exploring space in new ways can improve life on Earth”, the founder of Virgin Group Richard Branson said.
He was also a great fun of music and funded a museum in Seattle worth $100 million which is now called the Museum of Pop Culture.
“All of us who had the honor of working with Paul feel an inexpressible loss today.” Bill Hilf, Vulcan CEO said. “Today we mourn our boss, mentor, and friend whose 65 years were too short — and acknowledge the honor it has been to work alongside someone whose life transformed the world.”
We join the thousands of condolences addressed on the occasion of Paul Allen’s death and would like to close with the words of Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur and owner of Dallas Mavericks, who said, “You were a good man and will be missed. Rock and Roll Heaven just got a lot better.”
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/15/tech/paul-allen-dead/index.html
