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David C. Bohnett (born April 2, 1956) is an American philanthropist and technology entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of the David Bohnett Foundation, a non-profit, grant-making organization devoted to improving society through social activism. Bohnett founded the pioneering social networking site GeoCities in 1994; the highly successful site went public via an IPO in 1998, and was acquired by Yahoo! in 1999. Bohnett invests in technology start-ups via Baroda Ventures, a Los Angeles–based venture capital firm he started in 1998. ==Early life, education, and early career== Bohnett was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1956, and grew up in Hinsdale, an affluent Chicago suburb, with Republican parents. His father was a business executive and his mother was a preschool teacher.〔Kearns, Michael. ("Out on the Web" ). ''LA Weekly''. November 24, 1999.〕〔 His sister Wendy Bohnett Campbell is a past president of the board of the Dayton Philharmonic,〔Drinan, Ann. ("Orchestra Spotlight: The Dayton Philharmonic" ). ''Polyphonic.org''. March 1, 2010.〕 and his brother William is a retired corporate attorney and on the national board of the Smithsonian Institution.〔("Fulbright Of Counsel Appointed to Smithsonian National Board" ). Norton Rose Fulbright. November 2009.〕〔("Fischer Jr., Harry A." ). ''Chicago Tribune''. September 18, 2005.〕〔Bohnett, David. ("Eulogy for my Father, Harry Bohnett, 1923–2010" ). ''BohnettFoundation.org''. February 25, 2010.〕 Bohnett was interested in business at an early age, selling Amway products and delivering newspapers. In high school he became fascinated by computers, and chose to attend college at the University of Southern California – where he received a BS in business administration – because it was one of the few universities at the time with a computer science program.〔Callahan, David. (''Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America'' ). John Wiley & Sons, 2010. pp. 86–90.〕 He put himself through college by waiting tables and other service jobs.〔("Top 50 Cyber Elite. NO. 16: DAVID BOHNETT" ). ''Time''. October 12, 1998.〕 In his youth Bohnett experienced the isolation and pain of being gay, first in his conservative suburban hometown, and then in 1978 in college when his first lover, from a small-town Indiana Catholic family, committed suicide.〔 Bohnett became active in gay rights at graduate school at the University of Michigan, beginning in the fall of 1978 as a hotline counselor at the Jim Toy–founded University of Michigan Lesbian and Gay Male Program Office, now called the Spectrum Center.〔Bohnett, David. ("David Bohnett Remarks for the opening of the David Bohnett CyberCenter at The Spectrum Center" ). ''BohnettFoundation.org''. May 1, 2013.〕〔("Our History" ). Spectrum Center. University of Michigan.〕〔Bohnett, David. ("Founders Award Presentation to James Toy" ) at the 40th Anniversary of the Spectrum Center. ''BohnettFoundation.org''. November 18, 2011.〕〔 As an openly gay MBA student, he volunteered to go to freshman psychology classes and, looking like an average Midwesterner, said to the students, "I'm gay, ask me anything."〔 He received his MBA in finance from University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in 1980.〔("Alumni of the Month: David Bohnett" ). Spectrum Center. University of Michigan. October 2012.〕 When he returned to Los Angeles after graduate school, he became involved with GLAAD and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, came out to his parents, and in 1983 entered a longterm relationship with fellow activist and openly gay judge Rand Schrader, 11 years his senior.〔〔("David Bohnett remarks for the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Jewish Committee’s Ira Yellin Community Leadership Award" ). ''BohnettFoundation.org''. January 29, 2014.〕 When Schrader died in the AIDS epidemic in 1993, Bohnett, like many surviving same-sex partners prior to marriage equality, was left with no legal spousal benefits and a significant estate tax bill.〔 He did however receive $386,000 from Schrader's life insurance.〔Zweigenhaft, Richard L. and G. William Domhoff. (''Diversity in the Power Elite: How it Happened, Why it Matters'' ). Rowman & Littlefield, Jan 1, 2006. pp. 210–211.〕 Bohnett had been a staff information systems consultant at Arthur Andersen from 1980 to 1983 and, unable to be openly gay in that world, he had left to work at software companies instead.〔〔Klein, Rick. ("DIGITAL MEDIA MASTERS: DAVID BOHNETT: GEOCITIES" ). ''Ad Age''. July 14, 1997.〕 As his career in software was progressing, and shortly after Schrader’s death, he searched for a way to tie together the software and activist sides of his life. Around this time the World Wide Web was just starting to be introduced, and he felt compelled to be a part of it.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「David Bohnett」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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