The co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, died at 65

The cause was complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a disease that appeared in 2009 and reappeared just a few weeks ago. Allen was 65 years old.

On Oct. 1, Allen wrote a brief but optimistic note on his personal website, noting that "I started the treatment and my doctors are optimistic about the expected result." Appreciate the support I received. . "

Washington State Governor Paul Inslee on Monday called Allen "a giant of Washington's history".

DOSSIER – In this photo of July 17, 2001, Paul Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks, appears in a suite of the team's Seattle stadium. Allen, the billionaire owner of Trail Blazers and co-founder of Seattle Seahawks and Microsoft, died Monday, October 15, 2018 at the age of 65. Earlier this month, Allen said that the cancer for which he had been treated in 2009 had returned. (AP Photo / Elaine Thompson, File) ORG XMIT: NYCL104 (Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP)

Allen helped found Microsoft in 1975, at the age of 22, by joining his longtime computer friend, Bill Gates, in a company that has transformed the company.

While Gates was running Microsoft for decades, before finally focusing on his philanthropic efforts, Allen left the company in 1982 due to illness and never returned full time.

Instead, Allen, which was worth about $ 20 billion, quickly turned to a range of technology investments as well as a passion for cultural businesses such as the Seattle Experience Music Project. .

Allen was also known to be the owner of many mega-yachts and sports franchises, including the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL.

Vulcan CEO Bill Hilt, speaking on behalf of his company and the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers, Stratolaunch Systems, Allen Institute and Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, said in a statement that "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 lives. individuals and whole communities, "said Hilf.

Allen's sister, Jody Allen, told the Vulcan website that her brother was a remarkable person "at all levels. While most knew Paul Allen as a technologist and philanthropist, he was a beloved brother and uncle and a great friend to us.

"Paul's family and friends had the chance to experience his spirit, warmth, generosity and deep concern," she wrote. "Despite all the demands of his schedule, there was always time for his family and friends."

Allen's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a type of cancer that develops in white blood cells and the body's lymph nodes, which are part of the immune system. It strikes most adults, although children can also be affected.

Microsoft President Bill Gates, left, discusses with the owner and former Portland Trail Blazers business partner Paul Allen, during a match between the Trail Blazers and the Seattle SuperSonics in Seattle, March 11, 2003 . (Photo: ELAINE THOMPSON, AP)

There are two types, indolent, slow-growing and aggressive, which can spread quickly. It is usually treated with chemotherapy or immunotherapy and is considered highly treatable, especially if it is discovered early.

Other tributes to Allen were delivered Monday, including those of current and former Microsoft executives.

CEO Satya Nadella wrote on his LinkedIn page that "Allen's contributions to our company, our industry and our community are indispensable." As a co-founder of Microsoft, he has created in his own way, discreetly and persistent, products, experiences and magical institutions, and in doing so, he has changed the world. "

Steve Ballmer, former CEO, tweeted: "Paul was a truly wonderful, brilliant and inspiring person – and a great friend, I will miss him."

Music producer Quincy Jones tweeted "RIP to my dear friend Paul Allen Your genius and generosity have been and always will be felt by humanity."

Earlier this year, Jones feasted Vulture magazine with narration stories as a guest on one of Allen's yachts, noting that Allen could play and sing "just as (Jimi) Hendrix ", another legend from the Seattle area that Allen had collected the guitars.

The story of Microsoft's founding by Allen and Gates is in some ways even more incredible than that of how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created Apple. While they met while they were young, Allen and Gates began their friendship in adolescence.

Allen really had the idea that launched Microsoft.

Allen and Gates met while they were both students at Lakeside, Seattle's elite private school that starts in fifth grade and continues until high school. They met for the first time in 1967, when Allen was 14 years old and Gates 12 years old.

Eight years later, Allen showed Gates an article in the magazine Popular electronics on the Altair 8800, an integrated computer kit. The duo realized that it was possible to create software for these newly popular home computers.

In 1975, friends opened a small office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from which they started selling their software, a computer language product called Mircosoft. At the time, Allen worked at Honeywell as a programmer. Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard, where he was a student.

Allen is also credited with naming the company, which he did by combining a computer and software. At the time, many computers filled the rooms and the type of computer targeted was called a microcomputer, or forerunner of the modern PC.

In 1979, Allen and Gates transferred their business to Bellevue, Washington State, on the other side of Lake Washington and Seattle. Microsoft quickly turned the Pacific Northwest into a technological hub, rivaled only by Apple rivals south of Cupertino, California.

But where Apple's fortunes fluctuated when Jobs used its marketing prowess to defeat the almost unmatched hegemony of Microsoft products, Microsoft's exponential growth was hitting countless millionaires and even billionaires.

Microsoft's biggest slowdown occurred at the turn of the millennium as a result of an anti-monopoly lawsuit by the Department of Justice.

But by that time, Allen had left the company that he had helped to create, playing instead of everything from exploring the space to collecting famous rock guitars.

This story is developing.

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