Computer pioneer Max Palevsky logged off for good this week at the age of 85, with his assistant telling the New York Times he died of heart failure at his Beverly Hills home. The founder of chip-maker Intel was a major political backer of former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and ex-California Gov. Gray Davis.

A onetime logic and philosophy professor at UCLA, Palevsky made a fortune when the Santa Monica business computer maker he co-founded, Scientific Data Systems, sold to Xerox in 1969 for $1 billion. He took some of that and started Intel.

Strangely, in later years Palevsky came to believe computers had too much influence and were hindering one-on-one human contact. He once told the Los Angeles TImes, “I don't own a computer.”

He became a noted aficionado of Arts and Crafts furniture, and his collection can be found at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Palevsky also dabbled in movie production.

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