Bruce Bastian
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Bruce Bastian is a computer programmer, co-founder of the WordPerfect Software Company (Mr. Bastian with Dr. Alan Ashton founded Satellite Software International (SSI) in 1978 and changed the company's name to WordPerfect Corporation in 1982), multi-millionaire philanthropist and member of the board of directors of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the U.S.'s largest Gay and Lesbian political action committee, Bruce Bastian was grand marshal of the Utah Pride Festival's parade in 2004. [1]
For years Bastian quietly bankrolled Utah's cultural arts, until somewhere along the way, “philanthropy transitioned to activism”. Bastian reduced his donations to the arts to dedicate more resources to what he considers a battle over fundamental human rights. “Where he sees injustice, he devotes himself to reversing it." Bastian contributed half of the Don't Amend Alliance's budget for fighting Utah's constitutional amendment defining marriage as between only a man and a woman.
Bastian, a native of Twin Falls, Idaho, went on an LDS mission, enrolled at Brigham Young University, married in the LDS temple, and had a family before coming to terms with his homosexuality. While enrolled at Brigham Young University, where he majored in math, his instructor Alan Ashton and Bastian developed WordPerfect. At one time Bastian's net worth was estimated at $840 million, good enough to make the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest individuals in America. The Utah Information Technology Association inducted him into its hall of fame a year after it honored Ashton. Bastian now focuses on social injustice as an activist.
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