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.”
For This Dem Judge, a Gay Man’s Life Is Only Worth $765 and 30 Days in Jail When It’s Taken by a Black Woman
Woman Has Part of Her Face Bitten Off in Random ‘Zombie Bite’ Attack
Florida GOP nominee blasts 20-year Dem incumbent as a ‘socialist’ rubber-stamp with ‘precious little to show’
WATCH: DHS issues stark warning after 300 ‘hostile’ cartel drones detected at southern border
Erika Kirk sounds off after long-awaited university report on husband’s assassination
Federal illegal voting arrest becomes latest flashpoint in Sherrill’s battles with Trump administration
BREAKING: Trump Handed Huge Election Win as Supreme Court Allows Voter Verification Database to Stand
Reporter’s Notebook: Democrats face an impeachment tractor beam that could derail their affordability message
Trump Gets China’s Xi Jinping to Belly Laugh While Showing Him Biden White House ‘Autopen’ Photo
Trump and Xi compare histories during National Archives visit
Xi assured Trump he would cease aid to Iran, US ambassador to China claims
Ole Miss toxicology reports expected soon and results may trigger anti-fentanyl law, official says
DHS Pleads with Far-Left Public Officials to Tone Down Anti-ICE Rhetoric Amid 1,600 Percent Increase in Assaults
Suspect in Pittsburgh doctor’s murder had been released without bail on prior burglary charge: court docs
‘Red carpet for a despot’: Trump’s lavish Xi welcome collides with GOP anti-communism message
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.
