Ballmer is known to be tightfisted on expenses at
Microsoft. He also shares his grandfather's scrappi-
ness in business.
"My dad loved the tumult of business," said
Irving Dworkin. "He liked the commotion of being
a businessman. Steve probably admired him for that.
Some friends of Steve's told me that Steve, as a
negotiator, is really, really good. I think that's why
Bill Gates put him up there, to handle this stuff
with the government."

Tough And Defiant

While Ballmer's enthusiasm and loyalty to Microsoft
are strong, those qualities can sometimes run amok.
In 1997, the Justice Department under Atty. Gen.
Janet Reno filed an antitrust lawsuit charging that
Microsoft's Internet browser software, given away
free with its Windows operating system, established
an unfair advantage over sellers- of competing
browsers.
Soon afterward, at a meeting of software vendors
in San Jose, Ballmer asked the group if they liked
the current arrangement. When they responded pos-
itively, Ballmer was quoted as saying, "Then the
heck with Janet Reno on this point.
The government won the lawsuit. Gates and
Ballmer are awaiting the judge's decision regard-

"

+.

ew

eves • a
r Is a na
Detroiter with Jewish roots.

ing remedial action, which some have suggested
could force a breakup of the software mammoth
into spin-off companies. Alternatively, the two lit-
igants could come to a settlement in lieu of
appeals by Microsoft.
During the Jan. 13 press conference announcing
his promotion to CEO, Ballmer, still defiant but
more toned down, reiterated that computer con-
sumers are happy with the way things are.
"I think it would be absolutely reckless and irre-
sponsible for anyone to try to break up this compa-
ny," he said during the press conference. "It would
be a disservice to the consumers in this country. It
would be reckless beyond belief."

His Parents' Influence

Corporate loyalty, with a distinctively Detroit name-
plate, was a lesson Ballmer learned at his father's
knee.
Frederick Ballmer, now in his mid-70s, immigrat-
ed to the United States after World War II from
Basel, a town in northern Switzerland on the Rhine
River, bordering France and Germany. As a young
man proficient in languages, Fred Ballmer was

\\
,k,

k`Kks

NA.

Ni\
sk ‘U

tapped by the Allies to be a translator during the
Dworkin describes her as a well-read woman whose
Nuremberg war crimes trials.
greatest focus was on her children. Fred and Bea were
Interested in working in the automobile industry,
married in 1951. Steve was born March 24, 1956. He
he moved to Detroit and worked as a bookkeeper
has a younger sister, Rachelle "Shelly" Ballmer.
for General Motors. Fred Ballmer later was a high-
Shelly attended the University of Michigan and is
level accountant for Ford Motor Company. Part of
a social worker in Seattle. Steve lives in nearby
his job, according to his brother-in-law
Bellevue. "She loves to work with peo-
Irving, was to prepare profit projections
ple," said her aunt Olga. "She's very
Steve Ballmer speaks at
for the Lincoln-Mercury Division, for
compassionate, sensitive and dedicated."
the dedication luncheon
use by Ford Chairman Henry Ford II
Bea Ballmer, who died in 1997, is
o the Maxwell Dworkin buried at Beth El Memorial Park in
and President Lee Iacocca.
ilding at Harvard a
Fred Ballmer had a loyalty to his
Livonia. Fred Ballmer is ailing and lives
memorial
to the mothers
employer, Ford, and to Detroit cars that
in the Seattle area near his two children.
of Ballmer and Bill
worked deeply into his son's psyche.
Steve Ballmer offered these thoughts
Gates. Freshman David
Irving Dworkin remembers Steve,
on
his mother last year: "The importance
Eggli looks on.
already a success at Microsoft, picking
of family to her was imparted to us all,
him up at the airport in Seattle in an
and she always dedicated herself to my
older-model Lincoln rather than an exotic foreign
grandfather, my father, my sister and me. My mom
car.
always supported me in everything I wanted to do,
A mutual friend introduced Fred Ballmer to Bea
whether it was going to private school, participating
Dworkin in Detroit. Bea, born in Detroit in 1920,
in math or sports competitions, or pursuing my
graduated from Central High School in 1938. She
career. She was a great partner and confidan te.
worked as a secretary at Wayne University Law School
According to Irving Dworkin, Steve Ballmer's
and for insurance concerns. • Hei sister-in-law Olga
MR. MICROSOFT on page 10

2/11
2000

