In Memoriam: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen helped change the world

Allen was one of the richest tech billionaires in the world in 2017, according to Forbes, and he used his wealth wisely as a philanthropist. Estimates suggest he donated more than $2 billion in total, including $500 million to his Allen Institute for Brain Science. The Seattle-based nonprofit research organization has helped accelerate a better understanding of how our brains work, and the data is available for free to fellow researchers.

After leaving Microsoft, Allen funded Vulcan in 1986. Vulcan was an outlet for most of Allen’s philanthropy, and it assembled technologists, biodiversity experts, scientists, filmmakers, and art curators to invest in conservation, global health, climate change, space exploration, and many other big challenges. Vulcan helped transform Seattle with investments in local art, entertainment projects, and real estate. Additionally, Allen founded the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in 1988 to invest in technology, data, and policy efforts in the Pacific Northwest.

Allen was also passionate about music, entertainment, and sports. He first heard Jimi Hendrix play guitar when he was a teenager, and he described the moment as “life changing.” Allen went on to master the guitar so well that Quincy Jones once described himas the second coming of Jimi Hendrix. His fondness of Jimi Hendrix led to him loaning $6 million to the Hendrix family to help in a legal battle to regain control of the guitarist’s image and music. Allen even formed a band, Paul Allen & The Underthinkers and recorded a studio album in 2013. This love of music also extended back to the Seattle area. The Experience Music Project (EMP) opened in 2000, funded by a $100 million investment from Allen.

Allen purchased the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team back in 1988 and the Seattle Seahawks NFL team in 1997. He was even a co-owner of the Seattle Sounders FC soccer team. Most recently, Allen donated $26 million to Washington State University to create the Paul G. Allen School of Global Animal Health, and he created a Tackle Ebola initiative with $100 million of funding to fight the disease.

Allen was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 after being treated for Hodgkin’s disease back in 1982. He died this week from complications related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He will be remembered for his charitable work that has changed the world and his early influence on Microsoft. Allen is no longer with us in person, but he signed the Giving Pledge to donate the majority of his wealth to charity, so his impressive work as a philanthropist will live on.