David Morgenthaler, founder of one of the first venture capital firms and a leader in the creation of the National Venture Capital Association, has died at 96.
“To say that David Morgenthaler was a pioneer would be an incredible understatement. David was much more than a pioneer, he was an icon of venture capital, titan of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and champion of innovation,” said Bobby Franklin, president and CEO of the NVCA in a statement issued Monday.
Morgenthaler, of Cleveland, founded Morgenthaler Ventures in 1968, when few venture capital firms existed, and in the 48 years since, the firm he founded has raised $3 billion and funded 325 startups including Apple, VeriFone, Evernote and Siri. The firm later opened offices in Silicon Valley and set up an early-stage fund for software, which later rebranded as Canvas Ventures.
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His son Gary—himself a venture capitalist— told Deborah Gage of the Wall Street Journal his father had remained active right up until the end, testing an app for HealthLoop Software Co. from his bed at the Cleveland Clinic.
“At age 96, almost 97, who does that?” Gary Morgenthaler told Gage.
David Morgenthaler died Friday. The cause was not immediately available.
During his career, Morgenthaler served as director, president, or chairman of more than 30 companies, according to a release from Morgenthaler Ventures. He was also active in entrepreneurial organizations and in advocating for public policy changes.
Morgenthaler was a founding director of the NVCA, where he also served as president, and then chairman of the group. In those roles, he advocated for passage of a rollback on capital gains taxes to 28 percent from 49 percent and for allowing pension funds to invest in venture capital funds, which brought an influx of investment in startups.
An opponent of discrimination, he was a leader in getting the Young President’s Organization (YPO) to admit its first Jewish and African-American members. He funded a professorship of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, and fellowships at the Cleveland Clinic and Stanford University.
Morgenthaler was born in 1919 in rural South Carolina and educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving bachelor of science and master of science degrees in mechanical engineering in 1941. Morgenthaler served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II and commanded a line company building airfields in North Africa and later commanding the headquarters and service company of the 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment.
Following his discharge, Morgenthaler held positions at manufacturing startups, rising to become president and CEO of Foseco, which he built into the largest maker of exothermic chemicals for foundries and steel mills in the United States.
Morgenthaler is survived by his wife, Lindsay Jordan Morgenthaler, three children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.