Former Presidential Candidate and Billionaire Ross Perot Dies

Ross Perot in a file photo. (The Associated Press)

Former presidential candidate Ross Perot died at age 89, it was reported.

Perot, a Texas billionaire, famously campaigned against then-Democratic candidate Bill Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush during the 1992 presidential campaign. He also ran in 1996.

Family spokesman James Fuller told The Associated Press that Perot died early on July 9 at the age of 89.

At one point during the 1992 campaign, Perot drew 19 percent of the vote, which was unheard of as a third-party candidate. Some Republicans later blamed him for Bush’s defeat at the hands of Clinton.

Before his political aspirations, he became one of the richest men in the United States after founding computer services giant Electronic Data Systems Corp, amassing a net worth of billions. He sold the firm to General Motors for $2.5 billion in 1994 before starting another company.

Quotes

Perot is known for his sometimes off-kilter quotes, including:

“Life is like a cobweb, not an organization chart.”

“The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, the public debt should be reduced and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled.”

“A weak currency is the sign of a weak economy, and a weak economy leads to a weak nation.”

“Which one of the three candidates would you want your daughter to marry?”

“If someone as blessed as I am is not willing to clean out the barn, who will?”

“Failures are like skinned knees, painful but superficial.”

“Most new jobs won’t come from our biggest employers. They will come from our smallest. We’ve got to do everything we can to make entrepreneurial dreams a reality.”