Early Life
Charles Simonyi was born in Budapest, Hungary, on September 10, 1948. His father, Károly Simonyi, was a professor of electrical engineering. In his youth, Charles displayed an early interest in computers, learning to program and developing compilers. At the age of 17, he left Hungary.
Rise to Success
Simonyi's career began in Denmark at A/S Regnecentralen, where he worked on the RC 4000 minicomputer. He moved to the United States in 1968 to attend the University of California, Berkeley, earning a B.S. in Engineering Mathematics & Statistics in 1972. He later received a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University in 1977. From 1972 to 1981, he worked at Xerox PARC, where he co-developed Bravo, the first WYSIWYG text editor.
Key Business Strategies
Simonyi joined Microsoft in 1981, at the suggestion of Robert Metcalfe. He spearheaded the development of Microsoft's applications group. At Microsoft, he built the organization and applications of what became its most profitable products, Word and Excel, as well as Excel's predecessor Multiplan. He also introduced object-oriented programming and Hungarian notation to Microsoft, standardizing variable naming conventions. In 2002, he left Microsoft to co-found Intentional Software. Microsoft acquired Intentional Software in 2017.
Philanthropy
Simonyi is a noted philanthropist. He established the Charles and Lisa Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences in 2003. The foundation has provided grants to various organizations, including the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Public Library, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
