Business

Adobe co-founder who helped develop the PDF dies

April 19, 2021 9:56 am

Geschke set up Adobe in 1982. [Source: BBC]

Charles Geschke, the co-founder of the software company Adobe who helped develop the Portable Document Format, or PDF, has died at the age of 81.

Geschke set up Adobe in 1982, giving the world the ubiquitous PDF software, among many other audio-visual innovations.

He made headlines 10 years later when he was kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom before being released unhurt after a four-day ordeal.

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Geschke died in California on Friday.

Geschke and Warnock were responsible for transformative software inventions, including PDF, Acrobat, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and Photoshop, Mr Narayen said.

In 1992, Geschke was kidnapped in an incident that made national headlines.

He was held at gunpoint in his office and taken to Hollister, California, for four days.

Geschke was freed after a suspect, found with $650,000 (£470,000) in ransom money, took police to the location where he was being held, Associated Press reported.