Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, sports evangelist and philanthropist who died at age 65



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The co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist, space enthusiast, owner of the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA and the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL, Paul Allen, has passed away. He was 65 years old.

The Allen family today released a statement from Vulcan Inc., a private company of the Allen group, on behalf of the Allen, Vulcan and Paul G. Allen families.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our founder, Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and a prominent technologist, philanthropist, community builder, environmental advocate, musician, and advocate for the arts. Allen died on Monday afternoon, October 15, 2018, from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Seattle. "

Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975 and the rest belonged to IT. Allen left Microsoft in 1982, when his cancer first developed and fought in 2009. He was in remission until a few months ago, when he announced his return.

The AP wrote that Bill Gates was heartbroken by the loss of one of his "oldest and dearest friends". Personal computing would not have existed without him, "Gates said in a statement. "But Paul did not just start a business. He channeled his spirit and compassion into a second act to improve people's lives and strengthen communities in Seattle and around the world. He liked to say, "If it has the potential to do good, then we should do it," Gates wrote.

Speaking on behalf of Vulcan, the Seattle and Portland Seahawks, Stratolaunch Systems, the Allen Institute and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the CEO of Vulcan, Bill Hilf, wrote, "Millions of people have been touched by his generosity, his perseverance in the quest for a better world, and his willingness to achieve all he could with the time and resources to his disposition. Paul's life was diverse and lived brilliantly. This reflected his innumerable interests for technology, music and the arts, biosciences and artificial intelligence, conservation and the power of shared experience – in a stadium or neighborhood – to transform individual lives. and whole communities. "

Besides computer and sports, it was part of the first private effort to place a civilian in the suborbital space. SpaceShipOne was launched in 2004 and won the award Asari X Award. Then, in 2011, he was behind the launch of Stratolaunch Systems, a space transportation company.

It has also donated some $ 2 billion to support ocean health, combat homelessness and advance scientific research. Allen is among the richest people in the world ranked 44th in Forbes billionaires in 2018, with an estimated net worth of more than $ 20 billion.

the Los Angeles Times noted that not all of his investments went well. Allen reportedly lost billions of dollars in the 2009 Charter Communications bankruptcy. Allen saw the company as a future leader in high-capacity Internet bandwidth.

Despite his wealth, he retained the computer geek aura that he had always been. He was a supernaturally reserved man, who dressed modestly, appeared worried in public and was closely watching his private life, the Times article said.

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