Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, died Monday in Seattle from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, his family said in a statement.

Allen, 65, started Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, and was first diagnosed with the cancer in 1982. He stepped away from the company in March 1983, just months before doctors said his treatment had beaten the illness. The disease recently returned after years in remission.

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Although Allen co-founded Microsoft with Gates – the two met at a Seattle, Wash. private school – he left before many of the firm's signature moves, including Windows (1985) and Word (October 1983), debuted. But he was instrumental in the foundational rounds of the company's pioneering software strategy, such as Microsoft BASIC and MS-DOS.

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