Larry Ellison and Thomas S. Savage: Difference between pages

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[[Image:Larry_ellison_portrait.jpg|right|thumb|Larry Ellison]][[Image:oraclelogo.gif|thumb|right|Oracle Logo]]

'''Thomas Staughton Savage''' ([[1804]]-[[1880]]) was an [[United States|American]] Protestant clergyman, missionary, [[physician]] and [[natural history|naturalist]].

'''Lawrence Joseph Ellison''' (born [[August 17 ]], [[1944]]) is the co-founder and [[CEO]] of the major database software firm [[Oracle Corporation]].

In 1836 Savage was sent as a missionary to [[Liberia]]. During his time in Africa he acquired the skull and other bones from an unknown ape species, which he described in 1847 with [[Jeffries Wyman]] with the scientific name ''[[Troglodytes gorilla]]'', now known as the [[Western Gorilla]].

Ellison had an early aptitude for [[mathematics]], and worked as a young man for [[Ampex]] Corporation. One of his projects was a [[database]] for the [[CIA]], which he named "Oracle".

[[Category:Zoologists|Savage]]

Ellison was inspired by the paper written by [[Edgar F. Codd]] on relational [[database management system|database systems]] named ''A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks''. He founded Oracle in [[1977]], putting up $2000 of his own money, under the name ''Software Development Laboratories''. In [[1979]] the company was renamed ''Relational Software Inc.'', later to be renamed ''Oracle'' after the flagship product [[Oracle database]]. He had heard about the [[International Business Machines|IBM]] [[System R]] database, also based on Codd's theories, and wanted Oracle to be compatible with it, but IBM stopped this by keeping the error codes for their DBMS secret. The initial release of Oracle was Oracle 2, even though there was no Oracle 1. The release number was intended to imply that all of the bugs had been worked out of an earlier version.

Ellison is reported to be one of the [[List of billionaires|richest people]] in America by [[Forbes]]. In 2005, Forbes reported that Ellison has a net worth of around $18.4 billion, making him the ninth richest man in the world.

{{zoologist-stub}}

At the [http://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/2002/2002_01_16.wslarry.html Woodside estate], Ellison married [[Melanie Craft]], a [[romance novel]]ist, on [[18 December]] [[2003]]. At the [[wedding]], his best friend, [[Apple Computer|Apple]] CEO [[Steve Jobs]], was the official [[photographer]]. Craft was Ellison's fourth wife. He has a son and a daughter by previous wives.

==Properties==

===Sea===

Ellison is also the leader and principal financier of [[Oracle-BMW Racing]], who competed to be challenger for the [[America's Cup]] in [[2003]] on behalf of the [[Golden Gate Yacht Club]] of [[San Francisco]]. Now named [[BMW Oracle Racing]] due to increased financial support from [[BMW]], they are the official Challenger of Record for the 2007 [[America's Cup]] in [[Valencia]], [[Spain]].

Ellison won the disastrous 1998 [[Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race]] in his boat "Sayonara". The storm that hit the race cost 6 other sailors their lives. This experience has caused Ellison to swear off ocean racing.

Ellison also has the fourth largest [[yacht]] (as of 2004) in the world named "[[Rising Sun]]" which reportedly cost US$200+ million to construct . The Rising Sun is 452.75ft (138 m) long (the largest yacht is the Prince Abdul Aziz owned by the Saudi royal family, measuring 147.1m in length).

===Air===

Ellison has had several run-ins with [[San Jose International Airport|San Jose Mineta International Airport]] concerning the noise from his private jet. The [[San Jose, California|city of San Jose]] has a limitation on late night takeoffs and landings on planes weighing more than 75,000 pounds (34 [[tonnes]]), and Ellison received several citations. In [[2001]], he was granted a personal waiver on the law.

===Home===

He had an estate styled like a Medieval Japanese village built in [[Woodside, California]].

===Sports===

Ellison has also attempted to get involved in purchasing a professional sports franchise. He has made attempts to purchase the [[Golden State Warriors]] and then the [[San Francisco 49ers]], only to be rebuffed both times. He is now pursuing ownership with a potential future franchise in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], a ___location that the [[National Football League|NFL]] is also pursuing.

==External links==

{{wikiquote}}

*[http://www.oracle.com Oracle Official Site]

*[http://www.oracle.com/corporate/lje_content.html Larry Ellison Oracle executive biography]

*[http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=54&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=JKEX&datatype=Person Forbes 400 listing]

*[http://www.orafaq.com/faqora.htm FAQ about Oracle Corporation]. This site contains some interesting factoids about Larry Ellison.

*[http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/megayachts/1104top100yachts/index1.html America's 100 Largest Superyachts] Information on the 'Rising Sun'

*[http://www.ellisonfoundation.org/index.jsp The Ellison Medical Foundation].

*[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/14/MNGS649LVB1.DTL Zinko, C., et al. (2004). Larry Ellison's most important merger: Oracle CEO ties knot with novelist at Woodside estate; Steve Jobs takes wedding photos. Retrieved January 16, 2004.]

[[Category:1944 births|Ellison, Larry]]

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[[Category:Software magnates|Ellison, Larry]]

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