On this day in 1943 American programmer, software publisher, author and philanthropist Peter Norton was born. Norton is best known for the many computer books and programs that bear his name and portrait, the very first being a tool that could retrieve erased data from DOS disks. This tool was later compiled into the now well-known suite, Norton Utilities.
Among Norton’s most notable published works is The Peter Norton Programmer’s Guide to the IBM PC, a comprehensive guide to low-level programming on the original PC platform. Norton founded Peter Norton Computing in 1982, a company that produced software utilities as well as several manuals and books. In 1990 Norton sold the company to Symantec, which kept the Norton brand name on such Symantec products as the Norton AntiVirus, Norton 360 and Norton Internet Security.
Norton currently spearheads The Peter Norton Family Foundation, a major philanthropic group that supports non-profit arts organizations and human social services organizations.