Ric Weiland

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Richard W. 'Ric' Weiland (1953 - 2006) was a computer software pioneer and philanthropist. He was one of the first five employees of Microsoft Corp.

Weiland was a high school classmate and friend of Paul Allen, with whom he created the Lakeside Programmers Group at their school. After he graduated from Stanford University, Allen and Bill Gates hired him in 1975, the same year they founded Microsoft in Albuquerque. As one of only five employees, Weiland was a lead programmer and developer for the company's BASIC and COBOL language systems, two of the first personal computing interfaces.

After a stint at Harvard Business School, he rejoined Microsoft in 1982 and became the project leader for Microsoft Works. He left Microsoft in 1988 and dedicated most of his time to philanthropy. He was described by Allen as a "brilliant programmer" and a key contributor to the company's success.

Weiland was a donor to organizations such as the Pride Foundation, the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, United Way of King County, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Stanford University, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, AMFAR, and the National Audubon Society. He was influential as an active member of the Northwest gay community. A member of the Pride Foundation's board of directors from 1997 to 2002, he helped win the fight to get General Electric to include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy.

Weiland also was a quiet but key second round investor in gay online media company PlanetOut Corp. His investment helped the company survive the dot com crash of 2000. PlanetOut was acquired by Online Partners in 2001 and is now called PlanetOut, Inc.

One report estimated his total donations approached $100 million. He was known not to seek publicity for his philanthropy.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office said he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on June 24, 2006. He was reported to have suffered from depression.

A supporter of his alma mater, he established the Weiland Family Stanford Graduate Fellowship and endowed the Martha Meier Weiland professorship at the School of Medicine.