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Billionaire and former presidential candidate Ross Perot has died at age 89.
Ross Perot, the self-made billionaire from Texas, has died at the age of 89 after a five-month battle with leukemia. He is survived by his wife, Margo, five children, and sixteen grandchildren.
Perot started as an early tech entrepreneur, founding Electronic Data Systems in 1962, which was bought by General Motors in 1984. He later founded Perot Systems in 1988, which was acquired by Dell for $3.9 billion in 2009.
According to Forbes in 2016, he had become the 167th richest person in the U.S.
He also ran for president in the 1992 and 1996 elections, and both campaigns were among the strongest and most successful by a third party or independent candidate in U.S. history.
As a veteran of the Korean War, he spent a lifetime supporting U.S. veterans. Among his many efforts, he provided financial support for families of POWs, funded USO events to entertain the troops, and even offered scholarships to children of soldiers killed in action.
He was honored in 2009 by the Veteran Affairs Secretary for his advocacy efforts and his selfless support of veterans and the military.
