James Clark
Billions and Beyond
Early Life
James Clark was born on March 23, 1944, in Plainview, TX. His childhood was tough. When he was a child, his family was very poor. To add on to his family's poverty, when he was 14, his parents got divorced. After the divorce, his mother supported the poor child and his siblings on $225 a month. When he was 16, he dropped out of high school. He wasn't a very good student. He got in trouble for setting off a smoke bomb in the band bus, swearing at an English teacher, drinking, and drag racing. Plus, he never really liked high school anyway. After dropping out of high school, he joined the Navy, where he got his high school equivalency degree. In the Navy, he started learning about electronics. He also made money on the side by loan-sharking cash to other recruits at interest rates of 40%. After getting his Ph.D. from college and graduate school, he took on the job of teaching. He became an associate professor at Stanford University.
James H. Clark
He is the founder of several companies and programs such as Netscape, WebMD, Healtheon, Geometry Engine, Silicon Graphics. These million dollar companies and programs have led him to his entrepreneurial success as of today.
The Clark Center and Philanthropy
James H. Clark pledged $150 million to Stanford to build the James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering. Just before they started building the Clark Center, he stopped payment on $60 million to protest new restrictions the federal government had placed on stem cell research. However, the Clark Center was still built from $90 million. He also donated $30 million to Tulane University to establish scholarships for the School of Engineering. In addition, he also gave money to the Perlman Music Program. He gave the program around $1 million a year. He was very interested in nature and the environment. He was a board member for World Wide Fund for Nature and contributed money to them. He also made a $1.2 million donation to Wildlife Australia. He was also interested in sailing and provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to several marine charities.
Netscape
Netscape, one of his most popular companies, is devoted to web software. The same day that he quit Silicon Graphics, he and Marc Andreessen agreed to launch Netscape. 5 years later, in 1999, the company was sold to AOL.
Other Info, Fun Facts, and Quotes
“I have a policy that I get to spend as much on myself as I give away.”- James H. Clark
Silicon Graphics was established in 1981. However, in 1994, he quit the company.
He established Netscape in 1994.
He merged Healtheon with WebMD in 1999.
He made investments in Apple, Facebook, and Twitter.
He became a billionaire off of these investments.
Most of his wealth was from Netscape and investments. (Self-made)
He is 71 years old.
His kids are named Kathy and Dylan.
At Stanford, he developed a program called the Geometry Engine, which generated 3-dimensional computer graphics.
His wife's name is Kristy Hinze.