Historical Events  People
John McAfee

Alternate:
John McAfee died in 2012

Current:
John McAfee died in 2021

The wild man of software

When some people heard of the death of John McAfee in prison in 2021, they were shocked.

That's because they were sure they'd heard he died many years earlier, and they knew exactly when and how. They recall the details including the press and TV coverage, and the mass outpouring of articles expressing grief and combing over his remarkable life.

They remember it being suicide by a gunshot wound to the head in 2012.

Some point to a famous wired article in which he apparently plays Russian Roulette with the interviewer to make a point - could this really be the cause of this confusion?

Crazy life

From his birth in the UK in 1945 to him standing for US President twice, the life of McAfee was never anything but ordinary. His father was American, and he described his relationship with his as "troubled" to say the least - he ended up committing suicide by shotgun when John was only 15.

John's early talent for mathematics was recognized early on, and he even worked as a software engineer for NASA on the Apollo program in the early 1970's. His college years were just as turbulent, and he dropped out amid a scandal involving a fellow student, who later became his wife.

Anti virus

He founded McAfee software in 1987, and it offered the first commercial anti virus software anywhere. It's success was stellar and legendary, and ended up being acquired by Intel in 2014, although John had long since sold all his interest in the company by then. His subsequent business interests were varied, ranging from building mansions, smartphone software, light aircraft and antibiotics,

His later life is, however, dominated by the stories of his life in Belize and the murder of a neighbor following a dispute over the poisoning of his dogs,

He was the kind of person who just couldn't seem to stay away from controversy, and his reported death in prison in 2021 is entirely in keeping with that, as is the one of him dying from a self-inflicted gunshot would in 2012.