Dr. Warnock, who retired as CEO of Adobe 2000, co-founded the company in 1982, and his business went on to create a staggering footprint across multiple industries with its professional software.
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Adobe co-founder Dr. John Warnock passed away on Saturday at the age of 82, Adobe announces today. A cause of death has not been released; he is survived by his wife, graphic designer Marva Warnock, and his three children.
Warnock founded the revolutionary software company Adobe with his partner, the now-late Dr. Charles Geschke, in 1982. Marva Warnock designed the company’s original logo, and Adobe released its first program, the desktop publishing software Adobe PostScript, two years later. Warnock served mostly as the company’s CEO until 2000 and was co-chairman of the board along with Geschke until 2017. Warnock remained on the company board of directors afterward.
Warnock was “one of the greatest inventors in our generation with significant impact on how we communicate in words, images and videos,” wrote Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen in an email to employees informing them of Warnock’s passing. He later added, “My interactions with John over the past 25 years have been the highlight of my professional career.”
Adobe is widely-associated with Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Photoshop, but the company has maintained an impressively broad portfolio of well-regarded staple applications in multiple industries. During Warnock’s tenure as its CEO, Adobe created industry-standard software for business, graphic design, photography, video editing, audio recording, and more.
