Texas billionaire and former presidential candidate Henry Ross Perot is dead at the age of 89-years-old following a five-month fight with leukemia.
Perot, whose 19% of the vote in 1992 stands among the best showings by an independent candidate in the past century, died early Tuesday at his home in Dallas surrounded by his devoted family, family spokesman James Fuller said.
“In business and in life, Ross was a man of integrity and action. A true American patriot and a man of rare vision, principle and deep compassion, he touched the lives of countless people through his unwavering support of the military and veterans and through his charitable endeavors,” Fuller said in a statement.
As a boy in Texarkana, Texas, Perot delivered newspapers from the back of a pony. He earned his billions in a more modern way, however — by building Electronic Data Systems Corp., which helped other companies manage their computer networks. In 1968, Perot enlisted then-33-year-old Wall Streeter Ken Langone, who later co-founded Home Depot, to help take his company public.
“Meeting Ross Perot was the single biggest event in my career,” Langone said. “I’m a better person because he was in my life.”
Perot’s wealth, fame and a confident prescription for the nation’s economic ills propelled his 1992 campaign against President George H.W. Bush and Democratic challenger Bill Clinton. During the campaign, Perot spent $63.5 million of his own money and bought up 30-minute television spots. He used charts and graphs to make his points, summarizing them with a line that became a national catchphrase: “It’s just that simple.”
Cruise Ship Returns to Texas Port Shortly After Departure When Murder Victim Is Discovered On Board
Multiple Kennedy family members seek to join legal battle against Trump’s triumphal arch
10 Serial Killers Among Those Whose Sentences Were Commuted by Gavin Newsom
‘He blamed the Jews’: GOP congressman levels explosive accusation against JD Vance over election postmortem
Russia and Ukraine settle on large prisoner swap after no major developments from talks
Secretary Scott Bessent moved to military base over Iran threats and more top headlines
Slain New Jersey mom’s bedroom furniture removed by investigators months after unsolved stabbing
FIRST ON FOX: Supreme Court justices confront what it will take to keep America’s founding freedoms alive
Senate Republicans plan 54-day blitz to push Trump’s agenda before Democrats seize power
Did the blue wave leave Gavin Newsom behind?
South Yemeni leaders to US: Cut your losses in Yemen and support an independent south
UN denies working with Hamas-loving Gaza ‘aid’ group funded by American Marxist
NYC man accused of 3 Central Park rapes arrested at Miami Burger King
Multiple dead after vehicle crashes into food stand near North Hollywood Metro station
Mullin vows ‘zero change’ on immigration after Republicans suffer crushing midterm losses
Perot’s second campaign four years later was less successful, receiving just 8 percent of the vote.
However, Perot’s ideas on trade and deficit reduction remained part of the political landscape. He blamed both major parties for running up a huge federal budget deficit and letting American jobs to be sent to other countries. The movement of U.S. jobs to Mexico, he said, created a “giant sucking sound.”
“Ross was the unusual combination of his father, who was a powerful, big, burly cotton trader — a hard-ass, practical, cut-deals person — and a mother who was a little-bitty woman who was sweet, warm, wonderful,” said Morton Meyerson, the former EDS and Perot Systems CEO. “Ross was tough, smart, practical, loved to negotiate. But he had a warm and kind heart, too.”
Forbes estimated the businessman’s net-worth to be $4.1 billion, ranking him the 478th-wealthiest individual on earth.
Perot was born in Texarkana on June 27, 1930. His father was a cotton broker; his mother a secretary.
He is survived by his wife Margot, along with his five children and 16 grandchildren.
Story cited here.
