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A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 10 July 2019

Colorful self-made billionaire H. Ross Perot dies at 89

By DAVID KOENIG In 1962, with $1,000 from his
AP Business Writer wife, Margot — they met
DALLAS (AP) — H. Ross Pe- on a blind date — Perot
rot, the colorful, self-made founded Electronic Data
Texas billionaire who rose Systems. Hardware ac-
from a childhood of De- counted for about 80% of
pression-era poverty and the computer business,
twice mounted outsider Perot said, and IBM wasn’t
campaigns for president, interested in the other 20%,
has died. He was 89. including services.
The cause of death was Many of the early hires at
leukemia, a family spokes- EDS were former military
man said Tuesday. men, and they had to
Perot, whose 19% of the abide by Perot’s strict dress
vote in 1992 stands among code — white shirts, ties,
the best showings by an no beards or mustaches —
independent candidate and long workdays. Many
in the past century, died had crew cuts, like Perot.
early Tuesday at his home The company’s big break
in Dallas surrounded by his came in the mid-1960s
family, said the spokesman, when the federal govern-
James Fuller. As a boy in ment created Medicare
Texarkana, Texas, Perot de- In this April 20, 2019, file photo, Ross Perot listens to a reporter’s question during a news conference and Medicaid. States
livered newspapers from before accepting the Command and General Staff College Foundation’s 2010 Distinguished needed help running the
the back of a pony. He Leadership Award in Kansas City, Mo. programs, and EDS won
earned his billions in a more Associated Press contracts — starting in Tex-
modern fashion, however. hind hundreds of American Some Republicans blamed University of Texas South- as — to handle the millions
After attending the U.S. Na- soldiers who were missing Perot for Bush’s loss to Clin- western Medical Center. of claims.
val Academy and becom- or imprisoned at the end ton, as Perot garnered He also provided help to EDS first sold stock to the
ing a salesman for IBM, he of the Vietnam War. Perot the largest percentage of families dealing with medi- public in 1968, and over-
went his own way — creat- fanned the issue at home votes for a third-party can- cal expenses or other chal- night, Perot was worth $350
ing and building Electronic and discussed it privately didate since former Presi- lenges, according to those million. His fortune doubled
Data Systems Corp., which with Vietnamese officials dent Theodore Roosevelt’s who knew him. and tripled as the stock
helped other companies in the 1980s, angering the 1912 bid. “He gave a lot to other price rose steadily.
manage their computer Reagan administration, Perot’s second campaign people in public ways, but In 1984, he sold control of
networks. which was formally nego- four years later was far less he also did it in private the company to General
The most famous event in tiating with Vietnam’s gov- successful. He was shut out ways that nobody saw. Motors Corp. for $2.5 billion
his business career didn’t ernment. of presidential debates There were thousands of and received $700 million
involve sales and earn- Perot’s wealth, fame and when organizers said he stories just like that,” said in a buyout. In 2008, EDS
ings, however. In 1979, he confident prescription for lacked sufficient support. Meyerson, a longtime se- was sold to Hewlett-Pack-
financed a private com- the nation’s economic ills He got just 8% of the vote, nior executive in Perot’s ard Co. Perot went on to
mando raid to free two EDS propelled his 1992 cam- and the Reform Party that companies. establish another comput-
employees who were be- paign against President he founded and hoped to Henry Ross Perot was born er-services company, Perot
ing held in a prison in Iran. George H.W. Bush and build into a national po- in Texarkana on June 27, Systems Corp. He retired as
The tale was turned into a Democratic challenger Bill litical force began to fall 1930. His father was a cot- CEO in 2000 and was suc-
book and a movie. Clinton. In June of that year, apart. However, Perot’s ton broker; his mother a ceeded by his son, Ross Pe-
“I always thought of him as a Gallup poll showed Perot ideas on trade and deficit secretary. Perot said his rot Jr., In 2009, the Dell com-
stepping out of a Norman leading his major-party ri- reduction remained part of family survived the Depres- puter company bought Pe-
Rockwell painting and liv- vals, but he dropped out in the political landscape. He sion relatively well through rot Systems for $3.9 billion.
ing the American dream,” July, then rejoined the race blamed both major parties hard work and by manag- Forbes magazine this year
said Tom Luce, who was less than five weeks before for running up a huge fed- ing their money carefully. estimated Perot’s wealth at
a young lawyer when Pe- the election. eral budget deficit and al- Young Perot’s first job was $4.1 billion.
rot hired him to handle his Perot spent $63.5 million lowing American jobs to be delivering papers in a poor, It was during the Nixon ad-
business and personal legal of his own money, much sent to other countries. The mostly black part of town ministration that Perot be-
work. “A newspaper boy, of it on 30-minute televi- movement of U.S. jobs to from his pony, Miss Bee. came involved in the issue
a midshipman, shaking sion spots during which he Mexico, he said, created a When the newspaper tried of U.S. prisoners of war. Pe-
Dwight Eisenhower’s hand used charts and graphs “giant sucking sound.” to cut his commission, he rot said Secretary of State
at his graduation, and he to make his points, sum- Perot continued to speak said he complained to Henry Kissinger asked him
really built the computer- marizing them with a line out about federal spend- the publisher — and won. to lead a campaign to im-
services industry at EDS.” that became a national ing for many years. In 2008, He said that taught him to prove treatment of POWs
“He had the vision and the catchphrase: “It’s just that he launched a website to take problems straight to held in North Vietnam. Pe-
tenacity to make it hap- simple.” highlight the nation’s debt the top. From Texarkana, rot chartered two jets to fly
pen,” Luce said. “He was His homespun quips were with a ticker that tracked Perot went to the U.S. Na- medical supplies and the
a great communicator. He a hallmark of his presi- the rising total, a blog and val Academy, never hav- wives of POWs to South-
never employed a speech- dential campaign. Other a chart presentation. ing been on a ship or seen east Asia. They were not al-
writer — he wrote all his memorable lines included In Dallas, Perot left his mark the ocean. After the Navy, lowed into North Vietnam,
own speeches. He was a his take on negative cam- by creating the Perot Mu- Perot joined International but the trip attracted enor-
great storyteller.” paigning (“let’s get off mud seum of Nature and Sci- Business Machines in 1955 mous media attention.
Perot first attracted atten- wrestling”) and on getting ence, helping finance the and quickly became a top After their release in 1973,
tion beyond business cir- things done (“don’t just sit Morton H. Meyerson Sym- salesman. In his last year at some prisoners said condi-
cles by claiming that the here slow dancing for four phony Center, and being IBM, he filled his sales quota tions in the camps had im-
U.S. government left be- years”). a major benefactor of The for the year in January. proved after the missions.q