# Michael Homer

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{{Short description|American electronics and computer industry executive (1958-2009)}}
'''Michael J. Homer''' (February 24, 1958 – February 1, 2009) was an American electronics and computer industry executive who played major roles in the development of the [personal computer](/source/personal_computer), [mobile device](/source/mobile_device)s and the [Internet](/source/Internet).

==Life and career==

Homer was born in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) on February 24, 1958 and was awarded a bachelor's degree at the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley).<ref name=LATimesObit>via ''[Bloomberg News](/source/Bloomberg_News)'', [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-mike-homer5-2009feb05,0,4879643.story "Mike Homer dies at 50; a former vice president of Netscape"], ''[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times)'', February 5, 2009. Accessed February 6, 2009.</ref>

He was hired by [Apple Computer](/source/Apple_Inc.) in 1982, where he served as the technology adviser to the firm's chief executive, [John Sculley](/source/John_Sculley). He followed with a position as marketing vice president at [GO Corp.](/source/GO_Corp.), an early pioneer in creating software for mobile computers and personal digital assistants that did early work in pen-based computing.<ref name=NYTObit>Stone, Brad. [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/technology/05homer.html "Michael J. Homer, Netscape Executive, Dies at 50"], ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'', February 4, 2009. Accessed February 6, 2009.</ref>

After Go closed in 1994, [John Doerr](/source/John_Doerr) of [Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers](/source/Kleiner_Perkins_Caufield_%26_Byers), Go's main [venture capital](/source/venture_capital) backer, made the connection for Homer at [Marc Andreessen](/source/Marc_Andreessen)'s [Netscape Communications Corporation](/source/Netscape).<ref name=LATimesObit/> Homer was a vice president at the Netscape in the 1990s at the dawn of the [World Wide Web](/source/World_Wide_Web). There, Homer developed the company's initial [business plan](/source/business_plan) and played a pivotal role in obtaining the private financing necessary to allow the company to progress to its 1995 [initial public offering](/source/initial_public_offering).<ref name=NYTObit/> He developed marketing plans for Netscape in 1994 at a time when few people had ever heard of the Internet.<ref name=LATimesObit/> During the period where [Microsoft](/source/Microsoft) challenged Netscape's early browser dominance with its [Internet Explorer](/source/Internet_Explorer) product, Homer headed the firm's marketing department as it faced bitter competition from Microsoft, a challenge that ultimately resulted in [an antitrust suit](/source/United_States_v._Microsoft).<ref name=NYTObit/> Homer helped argue that Microsoft had abused its monopoly power in the operating system market to push out Netscape's browser in favor of its own.<ref name=LATimesObit/>

Following [AOL](/source/AOL)'s acquisition of Netscape in 2000, Homer founded [Kontiki](/source/Kontiki_(company)), a peer-assisted content delivery technology company, that was purchased by [VeriSign](/source/VeriSign) in March 2006 for $62 million, with a proviso that the rights to use the firm's technology would be donated to the non-profit [Open Media Network](/source/Open_Media_Network).<ref name=LATimesObit/> Homer fostered the early growth of a series of technology firms, including roles in the development of [Google](/source/Google), [Tellme Networks](/source/Tellme_Networks) and [TiVo](/source/TiVo), and sat on the board of [Palm, Inc.](/source/Palm%2C_Inc.)<ref name=NYTObit/>

===Illness===

In 2007, persistent memory problems he had been experiencing led to a diagnosis of [Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease](/source/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease), a very rare and incurable [degenerative](/source/degeneration_(medical)) [neurological disorder](/source/neurological_disorder). Several people close to him created "Fight for Mike", an organization that raised $7 million used to fund research in the neurology department of the [University of California, San Francisco](/source/University_of_California%2C_San_Francisco) towards study and potential cure of the disease.<ref name=NYTObit/> The team at UCSF includes Dr. [Stanley B. Prusiner](/source/Stanley_B._Prusiner), winner of the [Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine](/source/Nobel_Prize_in_Physiology_or_Medicine) in 1997 for his discovery of the [prion](/source/prion), misfolded proteins that trigger CJD and [bovine spongiform encephalopathy](/source/bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy) ("mad cow disease"). The team at UCSF was studying the use of [Quinacrine](/source/Quinacrine), long used as an [antimalarial drug](/source/antimalarial_drug), in the treatment of CJD.<ref>O'Brien, Jennifer. [http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/feature/200706215.html "Silicon Valley’s Mike Homer Teams up with UCSF Scientists for Fight of His Life"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205184504/http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/feature/200706215.html |date=2009-02-05 }}, ''ucsf today'', June 28, 2007. Accessed February 6, 2009.</ref>

Homer died at age 50 on February 1, 2009 in [Atherton, California](/source/Atherton%2C_California). He was survived by his wife, three children, his mother and sister.<ref name=NYTObit/>  The science center at [Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton](/source/Sacred_Heart_Schools%2C_Atherton) is named after him.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Homer, Michael}}
Category:1958 births
Category:2009 deaths
Category:Businesspeople from San Francisco
Category:Deaths from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease
Category:Neurological disease deaths in California
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:Apple Inc. employees
Category:20th-century American businesspeople

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michael Homer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Homer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Homer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.