The photo that ran on the front page of The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday was taken the last time I interviewed Mort Meyerson in 2019.
It was part of an obituary package that I wrote about H. Ross Perot Sr.
Meyerson had been a 26-year-old, clock-punching systems engineer in 1964, when he first laid eyes on this relatively unknown guy in a white button-down shirt, narrow tie and military-esque shaven head.
Two years later, Perot hired Meyerson as EDS employee No. 54 as a systems engineer trainee making $11,000 a year, nearly double his salary at Bell.
Business Briefing
Meyerson had turned down an offer for the same money with a much more impressive title at Bell’s parent, Textron, in Rhode Island.
But Perot dangled the promise of 400 shares of EDS, when it went public — which it did in 1968.
Meyerson paid $40 for those first shares, which were worth several million dollars when he eventually cashed out.
He and Perot had an “unpleasant head-banging” when Meyerson left Perot Systems as CEO in 1996. It was a complicated relationship, Meyerson said, but never one without mutual respect.
A few years after Meyerson left, Perot called, saying he was sending an artist to paint his portrait for Meyerson’s contributions to EDS’ early success.
Perot later phoned saying he was sending him an Excalibur — Perot’s medal of honor for those who devoted their lives to EDS’ dream.
“I’m thinking, ‘What the hell? Am I going to have to pull it out of a rock?’ Meyerson said with a chuckle.
He kept his framed Excalibur in a place of honor at his home, which was a converted DP&L power station.
Meyerson had grown a beard on a lark and Perot hated it.
Meyerson shaved the beard for the portrait and then quickly grew it back.
He went to see his former boss one last time at Perot headquarters.
He went clean-shaven.