I received a sad email from Andy Johnson of Greenleaf Software yesterday, giving me the news that Greenleaf’s founder Don Killen died in his sleep Monday, August 21, 2006.
Don was a pioneer in the world of desktop C and C++ programming, since he sat down in 1982 and hammered out his flagship product, Greenleaf Functions. Back in the days when MS-DOS programmers still had to use the Lattice C compiler, Don saw that there was potential big market for a library that provide glue between the BIOS, the DOS API, and C programmers. Armed with references and a copy of MASM, he created the product, placed a few ads, and found himself with enough orders to go into the business full time. (Mind you, this was back in the early 80s, and Don was managing to get over $200 a pop for this library.) You can follow Don’s version of that history here.
I went to work for Greenleaf in 1989 after burning most of my bridges with telephony startup SRX (later absorbed by Teltronics.) It was a big change for me – Greenleaf was a small family business and I had to try to learn how to operate in that kind of environment. During all my years with Greenleaf, I could never forget that it was Don’s world, and we were lucky to get to play in it.
Greenleaf had quite a few good years, but as the 90s waxed the product mix wasn’t attracting the kind of sales that it needed to keep the place going, and Don’s health was always an issue. Despite a fortunate kidney transplant, as he got older, I don’t think he had the energy and vigor he needed to reinvent the company for the new millenium. Seeing the writing on the wall, the development team branched off to form a contract programming company called Addisoft Consulting. Tammie Williams, Patrick Little and Ruby Hjelte are still there, and worked with Don and Greenleaf from time to time.
Working with Don was a great experience, and I can honestly say that I learned more about the software business from both him and Tammie than I could have managed anywhere else. It was a rare opportunity for an inexperienced programmer, and I really feel luck to have had the opportunity, and to have gotten to know Don.
May he rest in peace.
1 user commented in " Don Killen RIP "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackIt saddens me to hear this. Don was the first to open a door for me right after graduation in 1989. I had no experience at the time. My interview consisted of only discussing my graduation project (a 6800-Motorola based Heathkit communicating with the serial port of a PC). With no questions, he offered me a job at Greenleaf right then. I learned later that it was his style to trust people and give them the benefit of the doubt from day one. LANs were not common in small businesses yet, and he wanted everyone connected to an SCO Unix box. It was there that I met Mark, Ruby, Patrick and Tammy. Working there opened my eyes to what was happening in the field of networking and software and got me motivated to continue on to grad school. Don gave me my first C book. Several books later and having taught the subject many times in grad school, I still cherish that very same book in my bookcase. When C++ started gaining popularity outside of Bell labs and academia in early 1990, Don sent a memo encouraging everyone to learn it fast.
Don used to place posts on a bulletin board in the hallway leading to the offices. One post that represented his philosophy at work reads “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives. Author unknown”. I made a copy of that post before I left Greenleaf. I am now copying from that very same copy hanging in my office.
One time I was working with Mark, and we had a 1200 Hayes modem that went bad. We sent it to Hayes for repair under warranty. Hayes by mistake sent us back a 9600 one instead. Those used to run a little more than $1K at the time. Mark and I were very excited and wanted to try it out for a couple of days (v.32 was hot then). We told Don the story. He asked us to ship it back that same day and get the 1200.
I remember during a staff meeting, Don mentioning a management consultant warning him against credit-card-based sales (there was no 128-bit encryption-based browsers at the time and sales were done over loosely-secured electronic bulletin boards or the phone. Credit-card fraud was booming). He insisted that honest businesses outnumber deceitful ones. Greenleaf business flourished at the time.
If I regret one thing, it is not keeping in touch with Don as frequently as I should have. He will definitely be remembered as one of the early pioneers of PC software and a great educator.
May he rest in peace.
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