Microsoft Co-Founder Has Died of Complications of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. #paulallen

Bill Gates' statement on the death of fellow Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen: "He deserved much more time, but his contributions to the world of technology and philanthropy will live on for generations to come." http://abcn.ws/2CMy8eM

Allen,65, was a business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft alongside Bill Gates in 1975. At the time of his death, he was estimated to be the 46th-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $20.3 billion, including 100 million shares of Microsoft.

Allen was the founder and Chairman of Vulcan Inc., which manages his various business and philanthropic efforts. Allen had a multibillion-dollar investment portfolio including technology and media companies, scientific research, real estate holdings, private spaceflight ventures, and stakes in other companies. He owned two professional sports teams: the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League and the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, and was part-owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, which joined Major League Soccer in 2009.

He was the founder of the Allen Institute for Brain Science Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Institute for Cell Science, and Stratolaunch Systems. Throughout his lifetime, Allen gave more than $2 billion towards causes such as education, wildlife and environmental conservation, the arts, health and community services, and more.

Paul Allen believed in the possibility of extra terrestrial intelligence. He funded the Allen Telescope Array, formerly known as the One Hectare Telescope, is a radio telescope array dedicated to astronomical observations and a simultaneous search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The array is situated at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, 290 miles northeast of San Francisco, California.

Allen confirmed that he was the sole investor behind aerospace engineer and entrepreneur Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne suborbital commercial spacecraft on October 4, 2004.

The craft was developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Allen and Rutan's aviation company, Scaled Composites. SpaceShipOne climbed to an altitude of 377,591 feet over the Mojave Air and Space Port and was the first privately funded effort to successfully put a civilian in suborbital space. It won the Ansari X Prize competition and received the $10 million prize.