Charles Geschke

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Charles Geschke (2015)

Charles "Chuck" Matthew Geschke (born September 11, 1939 in Cleveland , Ohio , † April 16, 2021 in Los Altos , California ) was an American software developer and entrepreneur. Together with John E. Warnock , he founded Adobe in 1982 .

Career

Geschke studied at Xavier University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in classical languages ​​in 1962 and a master's degree in mathematics in 1963. In 1972 he received his PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University . From 1963 to 1968 he was an instructor in mathematics at John Carroll University . From 1972 he was at the Xerox PARC research center in Palo Alto , where he became a senior scientist. In 1978 he founded the Imaging Sciences Laboratory therefor computer science, image processing, computer graphics and optics, which he headed from 1980 to 1987. Together with his long-time research colleague John Warnock, they developed the page description language Interpress , which later became PostScript . Since they could not convince the management of Xerox to develop the software further, they founded their own company in 1982: Adobe Systems. With the advent of personal computers and laser printers in the early 1980s (especially from Apple with the LaserWriter 1985), they brought the first desktop publishing system based on Postscript onto the market. From 1987 to 1994 he was CEO and from 1989 to 2000 President of Adobe and from 1997 to 2017 a member of the Supervisory Board. He then remained a member of the Supervisory Board until April 2020.

He was a Fellow of the ACM (1999), the Mathematical Association of America, and the National Academy of Engineering (1995). In 2010 he received the Marconi Prize with Warnock and in 2008 the Computer Entrepreneur Award of the IEEE Computer Society . In 2009 he received the National Medal of Technology . He is an honorary doctorate from John Carroll University . In 2002 he became a Fellow of the Computer History Museum .

In 1989 he received the ACM Software System Award with Warnock and others for the development of Postscript. He was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences together with Warnock in 2008 . In 2012 he was accepted as an elected member of the American Philosophical Society .

Geschke had been married since 1964 and had three children. He died in April 2021 at the age of 81.

“Don't be afraid. Take a risk. Focus on the people which are going to help you achieve what you want to achieve, because you're not going to do it alone. "

"Have no fear. Take a risk. Focus on the people who will help you achieve what you want to achieve because you will not be able to do it on your own. "

- Charles Geschke : Computer History Museum

kidnapping

On May 26, 1992, he was kidnapped by two armed men in the Adobe parking lot in Mountain View and rescued by the FBI on May 31 , after a suspect was caught with a ransom and testified to the police. The two kidnappers were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
  2. ↑ Adobe Co-Founder Dr. Geschke Passes at 81. In: Business Wire . April 17, 2021, accessed April 17, 2021 .
  3. ↑ Fiona Kelliher: Adobe co-founder Charles Geschke dies at 81 ( en ) April 17, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  4. ^ A b biography of Charles Geschke at the Computer History Museum. In: Computer History Museum . Accessed April 17, 2021 .
  5. ↑ Member History: Charles M. Geschke. American Philosophical Society , accessed August 18, 2018 .
  6. ^ FBI Rescues a Kidnapped Businessman. In: The New York Times . June 1, 1992, accessed November 1, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Geschke, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geschke, Charles Matthew (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American software developer
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Cleveland , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Los Altos , California