SEATTLE – The man who quietly helped build the technology juggernaut that would become Microsoft has lost his battle against cancer.
Paul Allen died Monday afternoon at the age of 65, according to a statement posted by his company Vulcan Inc. on behalf of the Allen Family.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our founder Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and noted technologist, philanthropist, community builder, conservationist, musician and supporter of the arts. Mr. Allen died on Monday afternoon, October 15, 2018, from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Seattle,” the statement read.
While not as publicly visible as his longtime partner Bill Gates, Allen had actually become more of a notable figure after Microsoft. As owner of the Seattle Seahawks, he made frequent appearances raising the #12 flag to honor Seahawks fans before major games. He had also purchased the Portland Trailblazers in 1988, and was part owner through Vulcan Sports & Entertainment of the Seattle Sounders FC, a Major League Soccer team that began playing in Seattle in 2009. He was also a champion of aerospace and real estate ventures.
Allen and Gates had partnered up in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the mid-1970s to market software, eventually developing the operating systems that became key to the PC revolution of the 1980s and 1990s.
