Paul Allen Dies

Microsoft co-founder and former Charter Communications

chairman Paul Allen died Monday in Seattle. He was 65

years old and the cause was complications of non-Hogdkin's

lymphoma.

This was Allen’s third battle with cancer. He retired from

Microsoft in 1982 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's

lymphoma, from which he later recovered. In 2009, Allen

said he had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which he later beat

after chemotherapy treatment. But on Oct. 1, Allen said

the disease had returned.

He burst on the cable scene in 1998, purchasing Marcus

Cable and then Charter Communications, deals that laid

the groundwork for Allen’s “Wired World” strategy. What

followed was a flurry of transactions – among them Bresnan

Communications, Falcon Cable and Avalon Cable – that

vaulted Charter to the upper echelons among cable

operators across the country.

But those deals significantly increased Charter’s debt load

– at one point it was among the highest leveraged operators

in the industry. Allen stepped down as chairman in 2009,

shortly after the company emerged from bankruptcy

protection.

He stepped further back from Charter in 2011, reducing his

holdings in the cable company and focusing on his other

tech holdings via his personal investment vehicle Vulcan Inc.,

and interests including ownership of the NFL Seattle

Seahawks and the NBA Portland Trailblazers.