Ross Perot, billionaire and former presidential candidate, dies at 89

Ross Perot in 1992.
(Image credit: PAUL RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Ross Perot, a billionaire pioneer in the computer services industry and a two-time independent candidate for U.S. president, died on Tuesday after a five-month battle with leukemia, The Dallas Morning News reports. He was 89.

Perot, who was born into depression-era poverty, became one the richest people in United States after founding Electronic Data Systems Corp.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.