Dennis Robert Austin (May 28, 1947 – September 1, 2023) was an American

software developer Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

. He played a pivotal role as the lead software developer for PowerPoint between 1985 and 1996, focusing primarily on its versions tailored for

Apple Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

computers. Austin's initial encounter with computers took place during a high school summer program at the

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. This ignited a profound interest in programming languages and compilers, which he further cultivated during his undergraduate engineering studies at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in the late 1960s.

Early life

Born on May 28, 1947, in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, Dennis R. Austin spent his formative years in the suburb of Rosslyn Farms. His father was in charge of an executives' association, while his mother initially worked as a typist before dedicating herself to homemaking. Austin pursued his engineering studies at the

. After graduating in 1969, he continued his academic journey with graduate studies at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

, the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, and the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

Career

Austin embarked on his software career at

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

's computer division in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. He then held positions at

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

in Massachusetts and Burroughs in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It was during his time at

Xerox PARC Future Concepts division (formerly Palo Alto Research Center, PARC and Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. It was founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, as a div ...

that Austin was exposed to the revolutionary graphical user interface and a more expansive graphical approach to computing. Subsequently, he became a software developer at

Gavilan Computer The Gavilan SC is an early laptop computer first released by the Gavilan Computer Corporation in April 1984. The computer ran on an Intel 8088 microprocessor running at 5 MHz and sported a touchpad for a pointing device, one of the first comp ...

, before making his way to

Forethought, Inc Forethought, Inc. was a computer software company, best known as developers of what is now Microsoft PowerPoint. History In late 1983, Rob Campbell and Taylor Pohlman founded Forethought, Inc in order to develop object-oriented bit-mapped appl ...

in late 1984. It was here that Robert Gaskins spearheaded the development of graphical presentation software, which would ultimately evolve into PowerPoint, with Gaskins assuming the role of architect. Austin took the reins as the principal developer for PowerPoint, actively contributing to its conceptualization and execution. The PowerPoint project saw the addition of Tom Rudkin, who made substantial contributions to the programming efforts alongside Austin. Even after

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

's acquisition of Forethought in 1987, Austin continued to play a central role in the development of PowerPoint until 1996. An

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

of Austin from the

Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a computer museum in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the Information Age, and explores the Digital Revolution, computing revolution and its impact ...

focuses on his journey in software creation, with a special emphasis on his pivotal contributions to PowerPoint. The museum has an archive of Austin PowerPoint-related material.

Death

On September 1, 2023, Austin died at his residence in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Most of the city's growth ...

, at the age of 76. The cause of his death was attributed to

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

that had metastasized to his brain, as confirmed by his son, Michael Austin.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Dennis 1947 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American inventors Businesspeople from Pittsburgh University of Virginia alumni Arizona State University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni American computer businesspeople American software engineers General Electric employees Honeywell people Burroughs Corporation people Scientists at PARC (company) Microsoft employees