Ross Perot

Ross Perot

Henry Ross Perot was an American business magnate, billionaire, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a third-party campaign in 1996, establishing the Reform Party in the latter election. Perot did not seek public office again after 1996. He died of a heart attack in 2009, at the age of 90.

About Ross Perot in brief

Summary Ross PerotHenry Ross Perot was an American business magnate, billionaire, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a third-party campaign in 1996, establishing the Reform Party in the latter election. Perot did not seek public office again after 1996. He endorsed Republican George W. Bush over Reform nominee Pat Buchanan in the 2000 election and supported Republican Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012. According to Forbes, Perot is the 167th richest person in the United States as of 2016. His patrilineal line traces back to a French-Canadian immigrant to the colony of Louisiana in the 1740s. He served as a junior officer on an aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1957, and later, as a midshipman on a ship docked in Baltimore. He married Margot Birmingham, whom he met on a blind date in 1956, and they had three children. He died of a heart attack in 2009, at the age of 90. He is survived by his wife, Margot, and their three children, all of whom are now in their late 60s and 70s, and one of whom is in their early 80s. His funeral was held in Dallas, Texas, on November 11, 2009. He has a daughter, Toni, who is a senior vice president at Hewlett-Packard. He also has a son, David, who was a senior executive at IBM until he left the company in 1962.

In 1984, General Motors bought a controlling interest in the company for USD 2. 4 billion. In 1988, Pert established Perot systems in 1988 and was an angel investor for NeXT, a computer company founded by Steve Jobs after he left Apple. In 2009, Dell acquired Perotsystems for USD 3. 9 billion, and in 2012, Dell bought PerotSystems for $3.4 billion and $2.7 billion respectively. Pert was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and made Eagle Scout in 1942, after 13 months in the program. He became a top salesman for IBM and tried to pitch his ideas to supervisors, who largely ignored him. In 1962, he founded Electronic Data System, a data processing service company. In 1992, he announced his intention to run for president and advocated a balanced budget, an end to the outsourcing of jobs, and the enactment of electronic direct democracy. In the election, he received 18. 9% of the popular vote, but did not win any electoral votes. He won over 19. 7 million votes, far and away the most votes ever for aThird-party candidate. He later became heavily involved in the Vietnam War POWMIA issue, arguing that hundreds of American servicemen were left behind in Southeast Asia after the Vietnam war. He changed his middle name from Ray to Ross to honor his father, who died when he was 25 years old. He had an older brother, Gabriel Ross Jr., who died as a toddler.