Adobe's Co-Founder John Warnock Dies At 82 Dr. Warnock co-founded Adobe in 1982 with Dr. Charles Geschke after meeting as colleagues at Xerox
By Teena Jose
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
One of the prominent tech players, Adobe, has confirmed that John Warnock died of unmentioned causes, on Saturday at the age of 82.
"It is a sad day for the Adobe community and the industry for which he has been an inspiration for decades," Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said in an email sent to employees, informing them of Warnock's passing.
Dr. Warnock co-founded Adobe in 1982 with Dr. Charles Geschke after meeting as colleagues at Xerox. Dr. Warnock retired as CEO in 2000 and he was chairman of the board, a position he shared with Dr. Geschke, until 2017. In 2021, Dr. Charles Geshchke had passed away at the age of 81.
Warnock was "one of the greatest inventors in our generation with significant impact on how we communicate in words, images and videos," said Shantanu Narayen. He later added, "While the impact that his innovations have had are countless, it is his indomitable spirit, passion and belief in building a company with strong values that has impacted all of us who have had the good fortune of working at Adobe."
John has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest inventors in this generation with significant impact on how we communicate in words, images and videos. Among many other awards, President Barack Obama awarded him the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, one of the nation's highest honors bestowed on scientists, engineers and inventors, in 2008; he received the Computer Entrepreneur Award from the IEEE Computer Society; the American Electronics Association Medal of Achievement; and the high honor of the Marconi Prize for contributions to information science and communications, the email further stated.
Before co-founding Adobe, Warnock was a principal scientist at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.
During Warnock's tenure as its CEO, Adobe created industry-standard software for business, graphic design, photography, video editing, audio recording, and more.
