Ross Perot, RIP

Ross Perot, a very successful businessman who staged a successful rescue operation in 1979 to get some of his employees out of an Iranian prison following the Islamist revolution there and ran for president twice, died last week at the age of 89. He ran for present largely because he hated George H.W. Bush and drew enough Republican votes to give Bill Clinton the victory in the 1992 election.

Ross Perot ran again in 1996 -- much less successfully -- and was heard from no more, at least in the public eye. Former Texas governor Rick Perry, however, wrote a commentary piece following Perot's death that highlighted a side of the man not seen by very many people:

During my time as governor of this great state, I had the honor and privilege of knowing countless warriors who stepped forward to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan and returned home with horrific wounds of war. U.S. Army Cpl. Alan Babin Jr. is one such hero.
While serving in Iraq in 2003 as a medic in the 82nd Airborne, Alan was shot in the abdomen while tending to a fallen comrade. While Alan survived his injury, he faced a long and difficult road to recovery, complicated by the onset of meningitis and a stroke-induced coma that left him confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
On the one-year anniversary of his wounding, I joined Alan and his family for a small gathering. He was still in very bad shape, neurologically and physically incapacitated. When I asked his mother, Rosie, what I could do to help, she said she was eager to get him out of the hospital and back home, but struggling with the prospect of transporting Alan to his many medical visits.
I knew there was one person to call: Ross Perot. What happened next still amazes me to this day. The next morning, Ross personally called Rosie and made arrangements for his plane to pick up the Babins in Austin and fly them to Dallas where Alan could be seen by leading neurologists at Zale Lipshy University Hospital.
When the hospital elevators opened, Ross was standing there to meet Alan personally and ensure that he got the best of care. Later that day, Rosie was handed a key to a hotel room across the street so she could be close to Alan throughout his extended stay.

There is much more at the link. Ross Perot was a lot of things, but one thing for sure is that he was a patriot who put his money where his mouth was when it came to supporting our troops, and nobody ever heard about it. As far as I'm concerned, that made him a great man.