News Detail

Obit-Donald H. Jones, Entrepreneur, Teacher, and Visionary

Contact: Mark Burd: 412-268-3486

Release Date: Dec 19, 2012

Donald H. Jones, internationally recognized entrepreneur, adjunct professor (1989-2003) and longtime benefactor of the Tepper School of Business, formerly known as GSIA, passed away on December 15, 2012. He was 75 years old.

There are generations of alumni as well as hundreds of current Tepper School students who are familiar with the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship as well as its reputation for excellence and innovation in entrepreneurship.  He blended insight with philanthropy and helped the school realize its vision for educating entrepreneurs.  

In 1989, Don endowed the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at the school, thus supporting countless business plans, dozens of Tepper School and CMU startups as well as hundreds of strong partnerships throughout the global entrepreneur and V.C. communities.  He also served as an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship from 1989 to 2003.

Don was the managing director of Draper Triangle Ventures, a high-tech venture capital firm.  His start-up and investment accomplishments spanned a 50-year career in growing early-stage companies within the technology arena.  Two of the companies within his firm’s portfolio, BodyMedia, Inc. and Carnegie Learning, are companies founded by Carnegie Mellon researchers.    He started his first company, Control Systems Research, in 1968 and founded his most recent firm, Industry.Net, in 1990 – a career that serves as an inspiring example of how an inherent passion for entrepreneurship keeps pace with an evolving marketplace.

Don’s civic involvement and recognition included organizations such as the Pittsburgh Technology Council, Innovation Works and the Carnegie Science Center.  In 1990, Ernst & Young selected Don as the Entrepreneur of the Year.  He also served in leadership positions on the boards of various public and private companies, including Respironics and The Associated Group.

Don is survived by his wife, Barbara, and three children, Tom, Amy and Autumn.

Read a classified obituary from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette