Bernard A. Newcomb

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Bernard A. (Bernie) Newcomb is an American businessperson and philanthropist who, along with William A. Porter, founded the online discount stock brokerage firm, E*TRADE.

Newcomb grew up in Scio, Oregon. He is the middle child of Lyle and Agnes Newcomb. Born with congenital cataracts, Newcomb has always been legally blind ^[1].

He attended the Oregon School for the Blind ^[2] from kindergarten through second grade, having to board during the week and return home on weekends. He attended public schools in Scio through high school where he graduated as class valedictorian.

Newcomb received his B.A. in Business Administration in 1965. Upon graduation, he found that accounting firms and banks did not consider him employable because of his blindness. His college counselor persuaded General Electric to hire Newcomb in their data processing department at the Hanford Project in Richland, Washington, where he was employed for three years.

In 1980, in Palo Alto, California, Newcomb met Bill Porter ^[2] who had recently purchased an Apple II computer with the idea that a personal computer could be used to buy and sell stock, but having no means of accessing the necessary information with his modem. During the conversation, Porter convinced Newcomb to become partners and create a company that would enable an individual with a personal computer to trade stocks from home -- to disintermediate stock buying.

Newcomb's role was to develop the programming for the project. In 1992, PC Magazine featured Trade*Plus on its cover. In 1992, The San Jose Business Journal named Trade*Plus the year's fastest growing private company in Silicon Valley ^[2]. In 1996, Trade*Plus was renamed E-Trade Group and went public. Newcomb retired soon after and established a philanthropic foundation, the Bernard A. Newcomb Foundation.

In 2000, Newcomb co-launched with Herb Swanson and Mike Symons a company called ITXS, an auction site for high-end, pre-owned or surplus IT related material ^[3].

In 2006, Newcomb was awarded with the Helen Keller Achievement Award by the American Foundation for the Blind for his work to improve the quality of life of the blind[1].

In 2005 Newcomb, donated $5mil to the Peninsula Community Foundation ^[1], which has since merged with Community Foundation Silicon Valley to become Silicon Valley Community Foundation.