Founder Profile
John Warnock
Last reviewed: September 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is John Warnock?
John Warnock is a founder of Adobe Inc., which was founded in 1982 with Charles Geschke.
- Company founded
- Adobe Inc.
- Founded
- 1982
- Co-founders
- Charles Geschke
Background
Computer scientist with a PhD in electrical engineering who researched computer graphics at Xerox PARC.
Founding Story
John Warnock (1940-2023) co-founded Adobe after developing the Interpress language at Xerox PARC. He was the primary architect of PostScript and the PDF format. As CEO until 2000, he guided the company's early expansion into desktop publishing and creative software, fundamentally shaping the modern digital document ecosystem.