From the Editor

  • Darwin Deason founded business process outsourcing firm Affiliated Computer Services. He died in December 2025 at age 85.
  • Deason, who grew up poor on an Arkansas farm, left his small town the day after he graduated high school with $50 borrowed from his dad and a 1949 Pontiac.
  • He got a job as a mail boy at Gulf Oil in Tulsa, then joined Dallas-based data-processing firm MTech and became its CEO at age 29. He sold MTech in 1988.
  • Within days of the sale, Deason started ACS to handle computer and other business process services for clients such as E-ZPass, 7-Eleven and UPS.
  • He took ACS public in 1994 and eventually sold it to Xerox in 2010 for $6.4 billion.
Wealth History
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Forbes Lists

Personal Stats
Source of Wealth
Software, Self Made
Citizenship
United States
Children
3
Education
Diploma, High School
In Their Own Words

Good things come to those who wait, but normally it's the leftovers from those who hustle.

Darwin Deason

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