Today in Technology History
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May 30
Charles Geschke was born in about 1940. He studied the classics and mathematics in college, and went on to get a Ph.D. in computer science. For several years, he worked for Xerox, concentrating on optics, graphics, and "imaging sciences." In 1982, he and a colleague from Xerox started their own company, Adobe Systems. Over the next two decades, Adobe software rose to preeminence in the fields of desktop publishing, font management and graphics editing.
Today, Adobe is one of the world's biggest software companies and Geschke, who served as president of the company for many years, continues to serve as a co-chairman of the company's board of directors. All this sounds like a pretty straightforward story of a successful innovator and businessman, right? Well, all except for one minor detail: Geschke was kidnapped.
On May 26, 1992, Geschke was kidnapped in broad daylight from the parking lot outside the Adobe headquarters in Mountain View, California. His two gun-wielding kidnappers first held him captive in a motel, then later in a bungalow about an hour away.
Geschke's captors called his family and demanded $650,000 in ransom, threatening to kill Geschke and blow up his home if the ransom wasn't paid. The FBI and local police had dozens of agents and officers working the case, and when a member of Geschke's family dropped off the ransom money near a beach one night, the police watched with night-vision goggles as one of the kidnappers took the money and ran. He was captured the next morning.
Meanwhile, the other kidnapper started to worry when his accomplice didn't return with the money, so he fled, leaving Geschke tied up in a closet. Geschke managed to free himself and escape, but the kidnapper saw him down the street and -- at knife-point -- brought him back to the house and tied him up again.
By now, however, the kidnapper who was already arrested led the police to the scene, and on the afternoon of May 30, 1992 -- exactly ten years ago -- Geschke was rescued. Both kidnappers were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Geschke's kidnapping prompted many Silicon Valley firms to beef up their physical security.
Related links:
Click here to read Geschke's official bio.
Click here to read about the Adobe company.
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