Michael Homer, 50; played prominent role at Netscape
NEW YORK - Michael J. Homer, a Silicon Valley executive who played important roles in the development of three waves of technology - the personal computer, the hand-held device, and the Internet - died Feb. 1 in Atherton, Calif. He was 50.
The cause was Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare neurodegenerative disorder, said Ron Conway, a close friend and prominent Silicon Valley investor.
In the mid-1990s, when the World Wide Web was just beginning to alter the high-tech landscape and society along with it, Mr. Homer was a vice president at Netscape Communications Corp., the influential Silicon Valley start-up that commercialized the Web browser.
Marc Andreessen, Netscape's cofounder, said Mr. Homer wrote the company's business plan and helped to raise the last crucial round of private financing before its initial public offering in 1995.
Mr. Homer also ran the marketing department during the period that the company endured a furious onslaught by
Andreessen said Mr. Homer had "encyclopedic industry knowledge." This came partly from an early career that included a stint at
"He had seen everything from gigantic success to huge challenges and blowups," Andreessen said.
After leaving Netscape in 2000 after America Online bought it, Mr. Homer mentored and financed a wave of entrepreneurs from Netscape who went on to influence the future of the Internet.
According to Conway, Mr. Homer played important roles in the early development of Google,
Mr. Homer also sat on the board of
He leaves his wife of 10 years, Kristina; their three children, James, Jack and Lucy; his mother, Irene; and his sister, Sue.
