In what is the passing of a legend, Mark Hurd who was the Co-CEO of Oracle until recently, has passed away at the age of 62. Mark left the company just last month, after sending a letter to employees where he cited personal health as the reason for his departure. However, Hurd’s health was worse than he originally let on and he passed away this morning.
Joining Oracle from HP almost a decade ago, where he was CEO, president and, board chairman, Hurd was close friends with Larry Ellison, the founder of the company. This along with Hurd business acumen, could have been a reason in him being named co-President of Oracle despite the controversy while leaving HP. Hurd resigned from HP in 2010 after the discovery that he had been submitting inaccurate expense reports to hide an affair.
While handing Hurd the baton, Ellison had expressed full faith in his capabilities.
Mark did a brilliant job at H-P, and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle. There is no executive in the I.T. world with more relevant experience than Mark
In 2014, while transitioning from CEO to CTO, Ellision named Hurd CEO along with Safra Catz. Catz is still the CEO, however, another executive is likely to join her to replace Hurd. For the foreseeable future, Oracle plans to keep its 2-CEO structure.
At Oracle’s OpenWorld event in San Francisco last month, Ellision explained his reasoning:
I believe in a dual-CEO structure. The normal case would be dual CEO here for obvious reasons. That it’s good to have capacity and good to have specialization. And then, God forbid, if something untoward should happen, you have capacity; you are not incapacitated.
Speaking about Hurd’s demise, Ellision said:
It is with a profound sense of sadness and loss that I tell everyone here at Oracle that Mark Hurd passed away early this morning. Mark was my close and irreplaceable friend, and trusted colleague. Oracle has lost a brilliant and beloved leader who personally touched the lives of so many of us during his decade at Oracle. All of us will miss Mark’s keen mind and rare ability to analyze, simplify and solve problems quickly. Some of us will miss his friendship and mentorship. I will miss his kindness and sense of humor. Mark leaves his beloved wife Paula, two wonderful daughters who were the joy of his life, and his much larger extended family here at Oracle who came to love him. I know that many of us are inconsolable right now, but we are left with memories and a sense of gratitude…that we had the opportunity to get know Mark, the opportunity to work with him…and become his friend.
Hurd is survived by wife Paula, and daughters Kathryn and Kelly.
