Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is the billionaire co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, a major database software company.

Ellison was born in New York City to Florence Spellman, an unwed mother. At his mother's request, he was given to his mother's aunt and uncle in Chicago to raise. Lillian Spellman Ellison and Louis Ellison adopted him when he was nine months old. Ellison did not learn the name of his mother or meet her until he was 48; the identity of his father is unknown.

The Ellison home was a two-bedroom apartment in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood. Ellison remembers his adoptive mother as warm and loving, in contrast to his austere, unsupportive, and often distant adoptive father, who adopted the name Ellison to honor his point of entry into the USA, Ellis Island. Louis was a modest government employee who had made a small fortune in Chicago real estate, only to lose it during the Great Depression.

What Lawrence Ellison says

"When I started Oracle, what I wanted to do was to create an environment where I would enjoy working. That was my primary goal. Sure, I wanted to make a living. I certainly never expected to become rich, certainly not this rich. I mean, rich does not even describe this. This is surreal." Smithsonian Institution Oral and Visual Histories

"I hate the PC, with a passion." Triumph of the Nerds, 47"00

"If the Internet turns out not to be the future of computing, we're toast. But if it is, we're golden."

"Winning is not enough. All others must lose."

"It's Microsoft versus mankind with Microsoft having only a slight lead." March 4, 1997

www.wikipedia.org

 
 
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