Paul F Folino

Paul F. Folino, a longtime tech executive and philanthropist in Orange County, California died Saturday, Oct. 14 after battling cancer. He was 75. Raised in poverty in Seattle, Folino would go on to make a fortune in computer networking technology, working for Xerox in the 1970s and eventually as chief executive of Emulex Corp. in Costa Mesa. Folino spun his own fortune into supporting Orange County students and the arts. He gave and raised money for a broad range of causes including Orange County Performing Arts Center, South Coast Repertory, the Mind Institute, Project Tomorrow, Chapman University and Cal State Fullerton. Folino attended Central Washington University on a basketball scholarship. He majored in psychology, sociology and political science. He then earned a master’s in business administration in organizational behavior at Seattle University in 1970. After graduation, he went to Xerox Corp., where he volunteered to join the copier company’s early foray into computer networking. He left Xerox in 1984 to build and sell two tech companies before joining Emulex in 1993.