Steven Ballmer

Author: Lida added 18-11-2012, 14:31

Steven Ballmer was born on March 24, 1956. He is an American businessman who has been working as Microsoft CEO since January 2000. In 2012 he is number 19 on the Forbes 400 with personal wealth of $15.7 billion. He is also the first in the list of the richest people who are not business owners or their relatives.
Ballmer was the first billionaire in the world, who took his status thanks to options which he received from Microsoft.

Ballmer is the son of Frederic Henry Ballmer and Beatrice Dworkin, whose grandfather, Shloma Dworkin, lived in Pinsk, Belarus.

Shloma Dworkin started working in tailor shop, which is situated in Molotkovichi (the suburb of Pinsk). During the First World the family was wandering the expanses of the Russian Empire like thousands of Jewish refugee families. For some time the family settled in Saratov province. From that place a part of Dworkins returned to Pinsk (where Ballmer’s uncles built a bakery) and the other one emigrated to the United States. In 1920, the mother of Steven Ballmer was born in Detroit. There she married a native Switzerland Fred Ballmer and in 1956 Steven Ballmer was born.

Ballmer joined Microsoft in the early 1980s, after the invitation of Bill Gates, with whom he studied at Harvard University. He immediately became one of the top managers and a close associate of the company founder Bill Gates. He led the development of the first versions of operating systems (MS-DOS and Windows). In 2008 Ballmer succeeded Gates to replace him as CEO.

In October 2007 businessman came to Pinsk with his sister. This trip he organized to his sister as a gift for her 50th birthday.

Steve Ballmer in Pinsk, October 2007.

During the arrival in Pinsk, Steve Ballmer and his sister Shelley visited places which associated with Jewish history in Pinsk. They visited the Museum of Polesie and watched an exhibition of Jewish artists, which was demonstrated. At one of the city's Jewish cemeteries local historian showed to famous guests where his great-grandfather is buried. They visited the synagogue as well. The old Dworkin’s bakery was also shown to them. It is said that foreign visitors liked the taste of local biscuits a lot. It is also said that remembering the ancestors during the prayer the top manager of "Microsoft" cried.

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