Silicon Valley Founding Father Tom Perkins Dies at 84
Thomas Perkins, one of the founding fathers of Silicon Valley, died on Tuesday at age 84 at his home in Belvedere, California, according to the Marin County coroner's office.
As co-founder of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Perkins played a major role in the formative years of the computer and biotech industries. The firm that bears his name went on to fund some of the biggest names of the internet era, including Google and Amazon.
Perkins helped start Kleiner Perkins in 1972 with Eugene Kleiner after working as the first general manager of Hewlett Packard Co's computer division and later starting University Laboratories, a laser company that used Perkins' own optical inventions.
"He was there at the start of the biotech industry and the computer revol...