Co-Founder of Microsoft Died of Blood Cancer

Paul Allen - PHOTO BY Miles Harris

Paul Allen - PHOTO BY Miles Harris

PAUL ALLEN, A COFOUNDER of Microsoft, died of the blood cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma on Oct. 16.

Allen, 65, who launched the company — the first to provide software for personal computers — with Bill Gates in 1975, left it in 1982 after receiving his cancer diagnosis, according to a report by CNN.

The billionaire philanthropist and entrepreneur continued to leave his mark on his home city of Seattle and across numerous facets of U.S. culture, even during his last year of life. According to CNN, Allen, who purchased the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, was largely responsible for keeping the NFL in the Pacific northwest. He also had investments in media and entertainment, including Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen network, according to biography.com.

Allen donated over $2 billion to charity, including $100 million to resolve the Ebola outbreak and $30 million to help Seattle’s homeless population, and started a space transportation company and institutes that focused on artificial intelligence and bioscience, CNN reported. He also worked on shark conservation and, according to The New York Times, efforts to stop elephant poaching.

Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Allen was also a guitarist who, in 2000, funded and co-founded The Jimi Hendrix Experience Museum (aka Experience Music Project [EMP] Museum). Allen and Gates met as students at Lakeside School in Seattle, where, according to the Times, Allen achieved a perfect score on his SATs.

“I am heartbroken by the passing of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Paul Allen,” Gates said in a statement. “Paul was a true partner and dear friend. Personal computing would not have existed without him.”