Tom Perkins

Tom Perkins was a pioneering American venture capitalist who played a foundational role in shaping Silicon Valley's technology investment landscape. He co-founded the legendary venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in 1972, which became instrumental in financing and building iconic companies like Genentech, Tandem Computers, and Google. His career was marked by both immense success in backing transformative technologies and significant controversy stemming from his later public statements and his tumultuous tenure on the board of Hewlett-Packard.

Early life and education

Born in Oak Park, Illinois, he displayed an early aptitude for engineering and science. He pursued his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a Bachelor of Science degree. Following his time at MIT, he served in the United States Navy before furthering his business education. He subsequently attended Harvard University, where he graduated with a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, which equipped him with the financial acumen he would later deploy in the nascent venture capital industry.

Career

His early professional career included a significant stint at Hewlett-Packard, where he worked under co-founder David Packard and managed the company's burgeoning computer division. In 1972, he partnered with fellow investor Eugene Kleiner to establish Kleiner Perkins, a firm that would define modern venture capital. The firm's first major success was its early investment in Genentech, a pioneer in the biotechnology industry. He served as the first chairman of Genentech and was also deeply involved with Tandem Computers, a leader in fault-tolerant computing. His investment philosophy emphasized hands-on involvement with portfolio companies, providing not just capital but also strategic guidance. Later in his career, he returned to the board of Hewlett-Packard, where he was a central figure during the controversial leak investigation that led to the resignation of chairwoman Patricia Dunn.

Personal life

He was known for a lavish lifestyle that reflected his financial success. A passionate sailor, he owned several superyachts, including the famed *Maltese Falcon*, one of the world's largest and most technologically advanced sailing yachts. His personal life attracted considerable media attention, particularly his brief, high-profile marriage to bestselling novelist Danielle Steel in the late 1990s. He had two children from his first marriage to Gerd Thune-Ellefsen. His interests extended to collecting rare automobiles and he was a notable philanthropist, making substantial donations to institutions like the University of California, Berkeley and the San Francisco Opera.

Legacy and honors

He is widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern venture capital, helping to professionalize the industry and channel investment into groundbreaking high-tech sectors. The success of Kleiner Perkins in funding companies like Genentech, Amazon.com, and Sun Microsystems created a blueprint for Silicon Valley's growth engine. His legacy is cemented in the National Venture Capital Association's Hall of Fame, and he received an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco. The Perkins Award for discovery in the field of lymphoma research was named in his honor, reflecting his impact beyond finance.

Controversies

His later years were overshadowed by public controversies. In 2014, he authored a letter to the editor of *The Wall Street Journal* that compared progressive criticism of the wealthy to Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews, a statement that drew widespread condemnation from the business community and public figures. His role on the Hewlett-Packard board during the "pretexting" scandal, where private investigators used fraudulent means to obtain phone records of directors and journalists, also remains a contentious part of his biography. Furthermore, his novel *Sex and the Single Zillionaire* and comments about a "war on the rich" cemented a public perception of him as an out-of-touch plutocrat in his final years.

Category:American venture capitalists Category:1932 births Category:2016 deaths