Adobe co-founder and developer of PDF Charles Geschke dies at 81

Charles Geschke, the co-founder of software giant Adobe Inc, passed away on Friday (April 18) aged 81.

Geschke co-founded Adobe company in 1982 and also helped develop the popular Portable Document Format, or PDF. Geschke, widely know as Chuck, lived in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Los Altos and the tragic news of his death was announced by the company. 

“This is a huge loss for the entire Adobe community and the technology industry, for whom he has been a guide and hero for decades,” Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen wrote in an email to the company's employees. 

“As co-founders of Adobe, Chuck and John Warnock developed groundbreaking software that has revolutionized how people create and communicate," Narayen said adding that they sparked the desktop publishing revolution.

“Chuck instilled a relentless drive for innovation in the company, resulting in some of the most transformative software inventions, including the ubiquitous PDF, Acrobat, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and Photoshop,” he added.

As per a BBC report, Geshke was kidnapped in 1992 and the incident made national headlines. He was held at gunpoint in his office and taken to Hollister, California, for four days. He was freed after a suspect, found with $650,000 (Rs 4.85 crore) in ransom money, took police to the location where he was being held.

Notedly, Geschke and Warnock were awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Geschke's wife, Nan Geschke told mercury News that his husband was really “humble, humble” man. 

"He was very proud of his success, of course, but he was very circumspect about how much he had to do with that,” he said.