Tributes To 'UK's Greatest Tech Entrepreneur'
Mike Lynch’s friends and colleagues have paid tribute to “the UK’s greatest tech entrepreneur” after it was confirmed that he died in a luxury yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily.
The British businessman, 59, was killed, along with his daughter Hannah, 18, and five other people, when their boat capsized in heavy weather early Monday.
Their bodies were retrieved after a several-day search by divers, with Hannah’s being the last to be brought ashore on Friday.
Mr. Lynch was a well-known player in the UK technology business, where his investments in successful startups earned him the nickname “British Bill Gates.”
However, he eventually became entangled in a lengthy legal fight, which concluded in his controversial extradition to the United States, before being acquitted earlier this summer.
A spokeswoman for the Lynch family said in a statement on Friday that they were experiencing “unspeakable grief” at the time.
“The Lynch family is devastated, in shock, and receiving comfort and support from family and friends. “Their thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy,” they stated.
Andrew Kanter, Mr. Lynch’s close friend and colleague, described him as “the most brilliant mind and caring person I have ever known.”
“Over nearly a quarter century I had the privilege of working beside someone unrivalled in their understanding of technology and business,” stated the former employee.
Former Sun newspaper editor David Yelland described Mr. Lynch as “an irreplaceable loss not only to those who loved him but also to the country.”
“He is the UK’s greatest tech entrepreneur of recent decades, a family man, a long-time client of my business, and a friend,” explained him.
“To think Mike Lynch lost his life just as he began to rebuild it is devastating for all those that know him.”
Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo, and the yacht’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, were all killed when the vessel sank.
In a statement acknowledging their parents’ deaths, the Bloomer family characterized them as “incredible people and an inspiration to many.”.
Mr. Lynch is survived by his wife, Angela Bacares, who was rescued along with 14 others after the boat sank, and their older daughter, Esme.
Mike Lynch and Angela Barcares lived on the Loudham Hall estate in Suffolk.
Brent Hoberman, co-founder of Lastminute.com, called the events “tragic” and stated that Mr Lynch had much more to offer the UK IT scene.
“He was still on his journey, and he’d been sidetracked for a decade with this court case,” he told the broadcaster.
“I think there was a lot of unfulfilled potential.”
In a LinkedIn post, IT analyst a friend of over 25 years described him as “a unique British tech talent”. Richard Holway described Mr Lynch,
“Goodness knows what he could have achieved next,” he claimed.
Business Highs and Lows
Mr Lynch co-founded software business Autonomy in 1996, which grew swiftly and was sold to Hewlett Packard for $11 billion (£8.6 billion) in 2011, for which he is thought to have received £500 million.
However, doubts over the sale of Autonomy sparked a lengthy legal dispute.
In 2022, Mr Lynch lost a civil fraud case against HP in the High Court of London.
A day later, he was extradited to the United States as part of criminal proceedings, where he faced up to 20 years in prison.
He was acquitted in June of this year after a jury declared him not guilty of the offenses.
He told BBC Radio 4 that, while he was certain of his innocence, he could only establish it in a US court because he was wealthy enough to afford the exorbitant legal fees required.
Mr Lynch reportedly went on the yacht excursion with his family to celebrate his release.
Its name, Bayesian, is thought to be derived from the theory that supported his PhD thesis, as well as the software that powered Autonomy.
Witnesses said the ship’s aluminum mast snapped in half during a storm, forcing it to lose balance and sink.
Mr Lynch’s neighbour, Dick Smith, told the BBC that he was “reeling from the shock of the news”.
“He was so approachable and a very easy person to talk to with a nice sense of humour,” added his companion.
“You might think with all that money he would be difficult to talk to, but in fact he was a very easy person to talk to.”
Solder in the carpet
Mr Lynch was born on June 16, 1965, the son of a nurse and a firefighter, and grew up near Chelmsford, Essex.
His first computer was a BBC Micro, and he spoke about how it inspired his interest for programming in a 2011 BBC story commemorating the device’s 30th anniversary.
According to a 2017 interview, his “first foray into commercialisation of technology” occurred while in school, when he designed a digital sampler that could sample music and subsequently sold the ideas.
He continued the habit when studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, where he claimed he irritated his classmates by “soldering in the carpets” of his room.
He received his PhD in mathematical computing from Cambridge and thereafter held a research grant.
Mr Lynch helped develop Cambridge Neurodynamics in 1991, a company that specialized in fingerprint detection and recognition using computer technology.
Five years later, he founded Autonomy, a technology corporation that relies on a statistical process known as “Bayesian inference” to power its software.
Mr Lynch received numerous prizes and accolades as the company saw rapid expansion and success in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In 2006, he received an OBE in appreciation of his contributions to UK business.
He was a non-executive director on the BBC board before being named to the government’s science and technology council in 2011, where he advised then-Prime Minister David Cameron on the risks and opportunities of AI research.
Following the sale of Autonomy, Mr Lynch founded Invoke Capital, which contributed to the formation of Darktrace, a major UK cybersecurity startup, in 2013. Lynch was on the board until earlier this year.
On Thursday, a Darktrace representative expressed sorrow at the incident, describing Mr Lynch as an “active champion” of the UK technology sector.
“His loss will be felt by many,” they added.
