Paul Montgomery
| Paul Montgomery | |
|---|---|
Montgomery in April 1996
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| Born |
Joseph Paul Montgomery June 5, 1960 Los Gatos, California, U.S. |
| Died | June 19, 1999 (aged 39) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Business executive |
| Years active | 1982–1999 |
| Spouse(s) | Michelle Montgomery |
Joseph Paul Montgomery (June 5, 1960 – June 19, 1999 ) was an American entrepreneur and inventor. In the mid 1980s, he was among the first to see the potential of personal computer technology in the field of video production and 3D animation. As Vice President of NewTek and Co-Founder and President of Play, Inc., Montgomery drove the creation of the first widely-successful digital video products, including the Emmy-award winning Video Toaster and the Snappy Video Snapshot.
In the 1996 book, The Age of Videography, Montgomery was cited as one of the 25 most influential people in the history of videography. Montgomery received a Primetime Emmy award for his personal contributions in creating the Video Toaster. He is listed as an inventor on U.S. patents 6,380,950 and 6,941,517 regarding low-bandwidth television.
Although Montgomery started his career in real estate and artist promotion, in the early 1980s he became enamored by technology and personal computers, in particular with the Commodore Amiga. In 1985, the Amiga computer featured graphics, audio and multi-tasking capabilities greater than other personal computers of its time, making it a suitable platform for early 3D animation, video production and audio production products.
Montgomery first came to the fore in the Amiga community as a founder of the First Amiga User Group (FAUG, pronounced "fog") in California's Silicon Valley. FAUG meetings often featured the hardware and software engineers responsible for the creation of the Amiga, since the Amiga Corporation headquarters was in nearby Santa Clara, California. During this time, Montgomery worked for Trip Hawkins at video game pioneer Electronic Arts as product manager. Montgomery later credited Hawkins' experience at Apple with the Steve Jobs-like product and marketing strategy Montgomery used at both NewTek and Play. Montgomery met hardware engineer Brad Carvey in a computer store, and upon viewing a demonstration of inventor Tim Jenison's early Amiga experiments, arranged for Carvey and Jenison to meet.
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