Ross Perot, 1949

A photo of Ross Perot in 1949 when he was President of his class at Texarkana Junior College.

Henry Ray Perot was born to Lula May and Gabriel Ross Perot (a commodity broker) in Texarkana TX in 1930. (He later changed his middle name to Ross to honor his father.) He went to Patty Hill (a private school), Texas High School, and Texarkana Junior College (where this picture was taken). An Eagle Scout, he then graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. In 1956, he married his wife, Margot. (They had 5 children.)

After 5 years as a salesman for IBM, Perot founded his own company - Electronic Data Systems, EDS - in Dallas. A large contract was the computerizing of Medicare records for the government. In 1984, he sold controlling interest of the company to General Motors for $2.4 billion.

In 1988, he founded Perot Systems Corporation, Inc. and later sold it to Dell for $3.9 billion.

Perot is best known for his 3rd party Presidential runs in 1992 and 1996. While not winning any electoral votes in his 1992 run, he received almost 20 million votes - the largest share of votes by any 3rd party candidate (a record which still stands). His policies: "balancing the federal budget, [in] opposition to gun control, ending the outsourcing of jobs and enacting electronic direct democracy via electronic town halls". He was also "pro-choice, supported gay rights, stricter gun controls such as an assault rifle ban and increased research in AIDS" as well as a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood.

In 2019, Perot was named the 167th richest person in America by Forbes and was worth an estimated $4.1 billion. He died on July 9th, 2019 of leukemia and is survived by his wife, 5 children, and 16 grandchildren.