John McAfee Biography

John McAfee was born on September 18, 1945, in the United Kingdom, to an English mother and an American father. His father was serving as a soldier in the World War II when he met his mother. Later, his father worked as a road surveyor. His parents moved to Roanoke, Virginia, when he was young.

He had a difficult childhood as his father was an abusive alcoholic. Things took a turn for the worse when his father shot himself dead when John was 15. This incident would haunt John forever.

Deeply affected by the problems in his family, he started drinking and taking drugs. John was also naturally brilliant so he managed to excel academically inspite of his addictions.

John McAfee received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Roanoke College in 1967. He was later accepted into the Northeast State Louisiana State College for his PhD in mathematics. However, his degree was terminated because of his unacceptable sexual behavior.

McAfee was a highly intelligent young man with an uncanny knack for programming. Because of his excellent skills and knowledge, he was able to get jobs in reputed organizations despite his drug addiction and alcoholism.

He found work as a programmer at NASA's Institute for Space Studies in New York City, in 1968. After working there for a couple of years he moved to Univac to work as a software designer.

In the mid-1970s, he got employment as an operating system architect at Xerox. He then joined Computer Sciences Corporation as a software consultant in 1978.

From 1980 to 1982 he worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. Throughout this period he remained addicted to alcohol and drugs and that could be one of the reasons he was unable to find stability in any job.

His drug dependency grew by the day and by 1983 the problem had become too severe. He was working for Omex and was often found drinking and taking drugs in his office. His employers were very angry at his irresponsible behavior and they fired him. This was the wakeup call McAfee so desperately needed to sober up. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous and became sober thereafter.

He was then employed by the famous defence contractor Lockheed Martin, where he worked on a classified voice-recognition program. It was here that he learned about a self-replicating code designed to copy itself on to any floppy disk inserted into affected computers. Such a code was called a Virus.

He started developing software to combat viruses as he intuitively sensed that the menace of viruses would grow manifold in the coming years. He went on to found his own computer anti-virus company, McAfee Associates, in 1987.

By 1989, he had quit his job at Lockheed and devoted himself wholeheartedly to his fast growing business. The threat of viruses increased worldwide and soon McAfee became a multi-million dollar business. During the mid-1990s, John McAfee sold off his stake in the business.

In the mid-1990s, John McAfee founded Tribal Voice, a company which developed the instant messaging program, PowWow. His other business ventures include QuorumEx and Future Tense Central.

According to a report published in August 2009 in The New York Times, McAfee's personal fortune had declined to $4 million from $100 million due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

After various ownership changes, McAfee was acquired by Intel in August 2010, and Intel announced in January 2014 that they would they would market McAfee-related products as Intel Security.

In September 2015, he announced that he would run for the office of U.S. President in the 2016 presidential election as a member of the newly-formed Cyber Party.

In February 2014, John McAfee announced a smartphone app, Cognizant. The name of the app was, however, later changed to DCentral 1 and it was released for free on Google Play.

Besides the controversies surrounding the life of this self-proclaimed “eccentric millionaire”, John McAfee was best known as the founder of the computer anti-virus company McAfee Associates, which became a multi-million dollar business within years of its formation. He later sold the company and invested the proceeds in other ventures.

John McAfee has had several brushes with the law. In April 2012, he was arrested for unlicensed drug manufacturing and possession of an unlicensed weapon.

In November 2012, his neighbor, American expatriate Gregory Viant Faull was found dead with a bullet wound. McAfee was classified as a "person of interest" by the police, which wanted to question him regarding the murder. McAfee, however, grew paranoid and fled to Guatemala. He was arrested a few days later. He was deported to the U.S. in December the same year.

John McAfee was twice married. His first wife was Judy who left him in the early 1980s unable to cope with his drug addiction and drinking problems. He later married Janice Dyson.

He was involved with several other women as well. His past relationship with former teenage prostitute Amy Emshwiller received considerable media coverage.

On June 23, 2021, John McAfee was found dead in his Barcelona prison cell, a few hours after the Spanish National Court ordered his extradition to the United States on criminal charges filed by the US Justice Department’s tax division.

John McAfee was a self-proclaimed "eccentric millionaire" who once claimed to have fathered at least 47 children.

He was a passionate advocate for privacy and cybersecurity, often speaking out against government surveillance and promoting encryption technology.

McAfee had a diverse range of interests beyond technology, including yoga, aerotrekking (flying ultralight aircraft), and even running for political office.

He lived an unconventional lifestyle, frequently relocating to different countries and even spending time living on a boat in international waters to avoid extradition.