Tony Hsieh (1973-2020) *46

was an American Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He retired as the CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos in August 2020 after 21 years. Prior to joining Zappos, Hsieh co-founded the Internet advertising network LinkExchange, which he sold to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million.

On November 27, 2020, two weeks and one day before his 47th birthday, Hsieh died from complications from burns and smoke inhalation sustained in a house fire that occurred nine days earlier on November 18. Hsieh was born in Urbana, Illinois to Richard and Judy Hsieh, immigrants from Taiwan who met in graduate school at the University of Illinois. His father was a chemical engineer and his mother was a social worker. Hsieh's family moved to California when he was five, where he grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He had two younger brothers, Andy and Dave.

In 1995, Hsieh graduated from Harvard University with a degree in computer science. While at Harvard, he managed the Quincy House Grille selling pizza to the students in his dorm; his best customer, Alfred Lin, later was Zappos's chief financial officer and chief operating officer. After college, Hsieh worked for Oracle Corporation. After five months, he left to co-found the LinkExchange advertising network.