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Friends and colleagues of Mike Lynch have paid tribute to “Britain's greatest tech entrepreneur” after he was confirmed dead when his luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily.
The 59-year-old British businessman died along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others when their boat sank in rough weather in the early hours of Monday morning.
Divers searched for several days before recovering the bodies, with Hannah's body finally being brought ashore on Friday.
Lynch was a well-known figure in Britain's technology industry and was described as the British equivalent of Microsoft founder Bill Gates because of his backing of successful companies.
But he was then embroiled in a lengthy legal battle and controversially extradited to the US, where he was acquitted earlier this summer.
A Lynch family spokesman said in a statement Friday that it was a time of “unspeakable sadness” for the family.
“The Lynch family is heartbroken and shocked but is receiving comfort and support from family and friends. Their thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy,” they said.
Andrew Cantor, a close friend and colleague of Lynch, said he was “one of the most intelligent and compassionate people I've ever known.”
“For almost a quarter century, I've had the privilege of working next to someone with an unparalleled understanding of technology and business,” he said.
David Yelland, a former editor of the Sun, said Lynch was “an irreplaceable loss not only to those who loved him but to the country”.
“He is Britain's greatest technology entrepreneur of recent decades, a family man and a long-standing customer and friend of my business,” he said.
“The loss of Mike Lynch's life just as he was beginning to rebuild is heartbreaking for all who knew him.”
Morgan Stanley International Bank Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance Bank lawyer Chris Morbillo and his wife Neda Morbillo, and the yacht's chef, Recardo Thomas, also died when the ship sank.
In a statement confirming their parents' deaths, the Bloomer family described the couple as “wonderful people and an inspiration to so many”.
Lynch is survived by his wife, Angela Bacalez, who was rescued along with 14 others after the yacht sank, and his daughter, Esme.
Mike Lynch and Angela Balcarres lived in Loudham Hall House in Suffolk.
Handouts for families
A photo of Hannah and her father, Mike Lynch, was released on Friday.
Brent Hoberman, co-founder of Lastminute.com, described the incident as “tragic” and said Lynch could have contributed more to the UK tech industry.
“He's still on his journey and this trial has sidetracked him for 10 years,” he told the BBC.
“I think there was a lot of potential that wasn't realized.”
IT analyst Richard Holway wrote in a LinkedIn post that Mr Lynch, who he has been a friend of more than 25 years, has “a uniquely British technical talent”.
“God only knows what he could have achieved next,” he added.
The ups and downs of business
Lynch co-founded Autonomy in 1996, a technology company that grew rapidly before being sold to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for $11 billion (£8.6 billion), making Lynch an estimated £500 million profit from the sale.
But questions surrounding the sale of Autonomy led to a lengthy legal battle.
In 2022, Lynch lost a civil fraud lawsuit against HP in the High Court in London.
The next day, he was extradited to the United States as part of a criminal trial, where he faces a possible 20-year prison sentence.
A jury returned a not guilty verdict for him and he was acquitted in June of this year.
He told BBC Radio 4 that he was convinced he was innocent but was only able to prove it in a US court because he was wealthy enough to pay the huge legal costs.
Lynch reportedly celebrated his freedom by taking a yacht trip with his family.
The name “Bayesian” is understood to derive from the theory on which his doctoral thesis and the software on which “Autonomy” is based were based.
Witnesses said the storm broke the aluminium mast in half, causing the ship to lose balance and sink.
Mr Lynch's neighbour, Dick Smith, told the BBC he was “shocked and upset by this news”.
“He was very approachable, had a great sense of humour and was very easy to talk to,” he said.
“You might think he's difficult to talk to because he's rich, but he's actually very easy to talk to.”
Carpet soldering
Lynch was born on June 16, 1965, the son of a nurse and a firefighter, and grew up near Chelmsford, Essex.
The first computer he bought was a BBC Micro, and in a 2011 BBC article marking the computer's 30th anniversary, he wrote fondly of how it shaped his passion for programming.
According to a 2017 interview, his “first foray into the commercialization of technology” was while he was a student, when he designed a digital sampler that could sample music and sold the design.
He continued this hobby while studying natural sciences at Cambridge University, but ended up causing trouble for university officials when he found solder on the carpet in his room.
He completed his PhD in Mathematical Computing while at Cambridge and later received a research fellowship.
In 1991, Lynch helped found Cambridge NeuroDynamics, a company that specialized in computer-based fingerprint detection and recognition.
Five years later, his technology company, Autonomy, was founded, with a statistical method called “Bayesian inference” at the core of its software.
The company's rapid growth and success in the late 1990s and early 2000s earned Lynch numerous awards and accolades.
In 2006 he was awarded the OBE for services to British enterprise.
He has served on the BBC's board of directors and was appointed to the government's Science and Technology Council in 2011, advising then Prime Minister David Cameron on the risks and potential of AI development.
After selling Autonomy, Lynch founded technology firm Invoke Capital and helped found prominent British cybersecurity firm Darktrace in 2013. Lynch served as a director at the company until earlier this year.
Responding to the reports on Thursday, a Darktrace spokesman said it was shocked by the tragedy and described Lynch as a “positive advocate” for the UK's technology industry.
“His death will be greatly missed,” they added.
