Ross Perot died yesterday morning in Dallas after a five-month battle with leukemia. He was eighty-nine.
Whether you live in Dallas or Denmark, you probably know of Mr. Perot through his two campaigns for president and his pioneering work in computer services that made him a billionaire.
But if that’s all you know of him, you missed the most significant part of him.
Write your own legacy
I met Mr. Perot and his wife, Margot, at various functions in Dallas over the years and know him primarily through my friendship with his son, Ross Perot Jr. But everywhere I travel in Dallas, I meet his legacy.
The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center was built in part through a $10 million donation from Mr. Perot, who insisted that the center be named not for himself but for his longtime business partner. Mr. Perot and his wife made contributions to medical care in our city exceeding $100 million.
His work on improving schools and caring for our nation’s POWs and veterans was groundbreaking. The rescue he organized for company employees imprisoned in Iran became the basis for Ken Follett’s 1983 nonfiction book, On Wings of Eagles, and a TV miniseries.
If you read the Dallas Morning News profile of Mr. Perot, you’ll get a sense of the man and his enduring significance to our city. If you read the Washington Post profile, you’ll see a much more negative, politicized agenda at work. (In fact, it’s hard for me to believe that the person who wrote the Post obituary ever met the man or his family.)
Therein lies my point today: if you want to leave your best legacy, write it yourself. Focus on who you are more than what you do. Care less about what the world thinks of you than what you can do for the world.
As Ross Perot told a reporter who asked what he wanted to be remembered for: “Aw, I don’t worry about that.” Be your best self and leave the results to…
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