Comment by 27bstroke6

I was fortunate to work for and with him during his philanthropic career. He was every bit as influential, far-sighted, and effective in doing good as he was in building software.

When he sold Aldus, he pocketed around $100M. The very first thing he did, literally that same year, was to found the Brainerd Foundation and put $40M into its endowment. (It's since full spent out and wound down operations in 2021.)

I'll say it again: THE FIRST THING HE DID WITH HIS WINDFALL WAS TO GIVE NEARLY HALF OF IT AWAY. (And he still had plenty -- and he would ultimately give a lot of that money too!)

Imagine if all of the tech billionaires who would follow in his footsteps had taken that as their north star.

He was a giant. We would all do well to emulate his intellect, his vision, his decency, and his generosity.