Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died Monday in Seattle of complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to a statement from his company, Vulcan. He was 65.
"My brother was a remarkable individual on every level," his sister, Jody Allen, said in the statement. "While most knew Paul Allen as a technologist and philanthropist, for us he was a much loved brother and uncle, and an exceptional friend."
Allen announced earlier this month that he was undergoing treatment for the cancer, similar to the one that prompted him to retire from Microsoft in 1983. He said he planned to fight it "aggressively."
The multi-billionaire owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, Allen was also a major force in arts, culture, science and philanthropic initiatives across his hometown of Seattle.
He was known for his eclectic interests. In recent years, he founded a rocket company, Stratolaunch Systems, with ambitions of pioneering easier ways of reaching space and collaborated on a song with Ann Wilson of the band Heart.
He founded a museum celebrating rock and roll, science fiction, and other elements of pop culture, now called MoPOP, in 2000. Three years later, he launched the Allen Institute, a nonprofit focussed on brain research that has since expanded into other realms of bioscience.
A guitar player since he was a kid growing up in Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood, Allen told KNKX's John Kessler in 2013 that he rarely went a week without playing.
"Typically, after a hard day of programming at Microsoft or after Microsoft, I would go home and put on a record and then try to play along with it,” Allen said. “Early days, that would have been Buddy Guy, or B.B. King or Jimi Hendrix, who I was fortunate to be able to see when a couple of times in Seattle when I was a teenager."
Vulcan, Allen's real-estate company, was a driving force in developing Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood from an expanse of warehouses and parking lots into the heart of the city's tech economy, now home to sprawling Amazon and Google campuses.
"Without Paul Allen our region would be a completely different place," Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a member of the King County Council, said in a statement. "There likely would be no Seahawks here, Seattle likely wouldn’t be as much of world-renowned tech hub, and we likely would not have made so many positive strides in brain research."
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan called Allen "a giant of the Northwest."
"Paul was a true son of Seattle who made his beloved city – and our world – a better, more vibrant place," Durkan said in a statement. "For generations to come, Seattleites and people across our planet will benefit from his vision, innovation, and generosity."
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said: "It was joy to know Paul and to see his incredible drive and incredible heart, and he will be missed by me and so many others."
Allen founded Microsoft with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said in a statement that Allen made "indispensable" contributions to the computer industry.
"As co-founder of Microsoft, in his own quiet and persistent way, he created magical products, experiences and institutions, and in doing so, he changed the world," Nadella said.
