Bruce Bastian

At 76 years old, Bruce Bastian physical status not available right now. We will update Bruce Bastian's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Bruce Wayne Bastian (born 1948) is an American computer programmer, businessman, philanthropist, and social activist.

Alan Ashton co-founded WordPerfect Software in 1978 (formerly known as Satellite Software International but later changed to WordPerfect Corporation in 1982).

Early life and education

Bastian was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, on March 23, 1948. He attended Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, where he first majored in music. Bastian developed a software package to assist with choreographing marching band performances while working as the BYU Cougar Marching Band's director. Instructor Alan Ashton developed a software package to support marching band performances. He earned his master's degree in computer science after leaving his marching band position.

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Career

Bastian worked for Ashton and another partner in the spring of 1978, writing word processing software. Bastian took a job with the Eyring Research Institute when the company was forced to close due to inadequate funds. (ERI). Bastian worked on a language translation service at ERI (unrelated to WordPerfect). The company decided a deal with Orem City, Utah, to produce a word processor for the city's new DEC PDP-11/34 mini computer within a few months of his employment at ERI. Bastian was the company's first employee with no expertise in word processing, and the company hired Bastian and Ashton to create what would be termed WordPerfect. The word processor was originally written in DEC Assembler Language. It was later moved to the IBM PC.

Bastian's net worth stood at $1.4 billion at a time, valuing him as one of America's most influential 500 people.

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