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LifeMap

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Lawrence Joseph is born in NYC to an unwed Jewish woman; his father was a US Army Air Corps pilot.

At 9 months, Larry contracts pneumonia and is adopted by his aunt and uncle in Chicago.

After graduating from South Shore HS, Larry is named Science Student of the Year at U. of Illinois.

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Larry's adoptive mother dies of cancer, leading him to drop out of school after his sophomore year.

He enrolls at the University of Chicago after spending the summer in northern California.

After one semester, Larry drops out of University of Chicago and moves to Berkeley, California.

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Without any specific long term goals, Larry begins working at an employment agency in Berkeley, CA.

Adda Quinn, Larry's 1st wife, marries him after they meet at a Berkeley employment agency.

Larry and Adda buy a house in Oakland on modest incomes; he also begins buying boats.

While working at Ampex, Larry meets fellow programmer Ed Oates and supervisor Bob Miner.

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Larry's first marriage with Adda Quinn ends in divorce when she tires of his aimlessness and debts.

Ellison becomes VP of Research & Development at Precision Instruments which eventually becomes Omex.

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Larry marries Nancy Wheeler Jenkins six months prior to founding what will become Oracle.

Larry and colleagues Robert Miner and Ed Oates co-found Software Development Labs.

The CIA contracts Larry and Software Development Labs to work on a database management system.

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Nancy, Larry's 2nd wife, gives up any claim of his company for $500 during their divorce.

Larry becomes president of Software Development Labs, the company that will become Oracle.

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Software Development Labs makes 1st version of their database product, Oracle; it's never released.

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After 2 years, Larry and his colleagues release Oracle 2.0, the 1st official version of the product.

Larry changes the name of Software Development Labs to Relational Software Inc. (RSI).

IBM signs on to use Oracle products. Sales for Larry's company double every year for seven years.

Larry changes the name of his company to Oracle Systems Coproration after its flagship product.

Barbara Boothe, a former receptionist from RSI, gives birth to Larry's first child, David Ellison.

Barbara marries Larry, becoming his third wife.

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Oracle 3.0 is the 1st database product able to work on mainframes, PCs, and minicomputers.

Oracle 5.0 is the 1st database program to exist in a client/server environment.

Barbara and Larry welcome their second child into the world, a daughter named Margaret.

Oracle goes public. Its IPO produces $31.5 in revenue for Ellison's company.

Larry and Barbara divorce after three years of marriage and two children.

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Established as the largest database company, Larry expands Oracle's focus to add enterprise apps.

Oracle 6 is released with several new features, bringing further growth to Larry's company.

Larry moves Oracle's headquarters to a campus in Redwood Shores, California.

Long before the competition, Larry readies Oracle for an Internet boom that's still a decade away.

Oracle names Ellison as Chairman of the Board.

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While surfing in Hawaii, Larry suffers a broken neck, punctured lung, and other injuries.

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Larry receives top care for a shattered elbow; this plants a seed for his future medical donations.

Oracle 7's groundbreaking functionality wins critical acclaim for Larry and his company.

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Larry and Oracle earn 3rd party assurances with the industry’s 1st independent security evaluation.

Oracle names Ellison to his second term as Chairman of the Board.

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Larry makes Oracle the 1st major software company to announce a comprehensive internet strategy.

Larry plots to buy Apple and reinstall Steve Jobs as CEO, but Jobs takes a subtler approach.

Industry leading Sybase merges with Powersoft. Their loss of focus leads to Oracle's rise.

Apple appoints Larry to the Board of Directors after Steve Jobs returns to the company.

Larry founds The Ellison Medical Foundation, a non-profit in support of aging research.

Ellison makes a $5M seed donation to open The Lawrence J. Ellison Ambulatory Care Center.

Ellison makes a $2M seed investment in Oracle VP Marc Benioff's startup company, Salesforce.com.

Too far ahead of the market, Ellison pulls the plug on Oracle's development of the 1st ever tablet.

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Larry makes OracleSalesOnline.com available for free as direct competition with Salesforce.com.

Marc Benioff kicks Larry of the Board of Directors for Salesforce due to competing interests.

A US District Judge rules in Larry's favor, allowing him to land his $59M personal jet at night.

Larry leads Oracle to industry dominance as 98% of Fortune 100 companies depend on his products.

Ellison resigns from his position with Apple, citing lack of time to attend board meetings.

Romance novelist Melanie Craft marries Larry; Steve Jobs takes the wedding photos.

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Ellison's proposal to donate $100M to charity to settle charges of improper trading is approved.

Oracle buys applications rival PeopleSoft; Larry announces his intention to acquire Siebel Systems.

Ellison sponsors a $500K project to fortify a community center in Sderot, Israel against rockets.

For the fourth straight year, Oracle's board gives Larry seven million stock options.

The Wall Street Journal names Larry, who earns $1.84B, the best paid executive over the last decade.

The BMW Oracle racing team welcomes Larry to their sailing team as they win the America's Cup.

The Giving Pledge, a philanthropic campaign, welcomes Ellison as its 3rd wealthiest member.

Elon Musk and Larry Ellison make cameo appearances in Iron Man 2.

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Larry buys 50% of the BNP Open, a top tennis tournament in the US, and saves its future in the US.

Larry is outbid in his effort to buy the Golden State Warriors, who play at Oracle Arena.

Melanie Craft and Ellison divorce after nearly seven years of marriage.

Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems is approved, giving Larry an edge over IBM & HP.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy names Larry the 24th most generous donor after he gives $45M in 2010.

Larry purchases 98% of Lanai, Hawaii's 6th largest island, for $300M.

Through a holding company, Larry purchases Island Air, a Hawaii-based regional airline.

Larry's BMW Oracle racing team wins the America's Cup for a second time in an improbable comeback.

The Bay Area Council Business Hall of Fame honors Ellison for his accomplishments.

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces accepts a $10M donation from Ellison.

Ellison steps down as CEO of Oracle but remains active as "full-time" Executive Chairman.

Larry gives $1M to a super PAC for Marco Rubio's presidential bid, raising his total support to $4M.

Larry gifts $200M towards the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine at USC.

Forbes names Ellison the 7th wealthiest billionaire in the world. His estimated worth is $43.6B.

1940s

Lawrence Joseph is born in NYC to an unwed Jewish woman; his father was a US Army Air Corps pilot.

At 9 months, Larry contracts pneumonia and is adopted by his aunt and uncle in Chicago.

1960s

After graduating from South Shore HS, Larry is named Science Student of the Year at U. of Illinois.

Larry's adoptive mother dies of cancer, leading him to drop out of school after his sophomore year.

He enrolls at the University of Chicago after spending the summer in northern California.

After one semester, Larry drops out of University of Chicago and moves to Berkeley, California.

Without any specific long term goals, Larry begins working at an employment agency in Berkeley, CA.

Adda Quinn, Larry's 1st wife, marries him after they meet at a Berkeley employment agency.

1970s