Adobe's co-founder John Warnock dies at 82
Warnock co-founded Adobe in 1982 with Dr. Charles Geschke after they met at Xerox
Adobe's co-founder Dr. John Warnock died on Saturday, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
Adobe Chair and CEO Shantanu Narayen said in an email to Adobe employees: 'It is with profound sadness that I share that our beloved co-founder Dr. John Warnock passed away at 82. John's brilliance and technological innovations changed the world. It is a sad day for the Adobe community and the industry for which he has been an inspiration for decades." The cause of his death was not revealed.
Dr. Warnock co-founded Adobe in 1982 with Dr. Charles Geschke after meeting as colleagues at Xerox. Their first product was Adobe PostScript, a technology that sparked the desktop publishing revolution. Dr Warnock retired as CEO in 2000 and was chairman of the board, a position he shared with Dr Geschke until 2017. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since then.
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In recognition of their technical achievements, Dr. Warnock was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Barack Obama, the Computer Entrepreneur Award from the IEEE Computer Society, the American Electronics Association Medal of Achievement, and the Marconi Prize for information science and communications contributions.
Dr. Warnock's vision enabled Adobe to deliver innovations such as Illustrator, the ubiquitous PDF file format and Acrobat, Photoshop and Premiere Pro, defining the desktop era and unleashing creativity and opportunity for millions. "John has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest inventors in our generation with a significant impact on how we communicate in words, images and videos," said Narayen.
"While the impact that his innovations have had is countless, it is his indomitable spirit, passion and belief in building a company with strong values that have impacted all of us who have had the good fortune of working at Adobe. John was incredibly insightful on which technologies would delight customers and create business value. John and his wife, Marva, a graphics artist, used our products constantly and set the standard for customer empathy," he added to Adobe's employees.
Dr. Warnock is survived by his wife, Marva Warnock and his three children.