Editing Richard Brodie (programmer) (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===
Brodie was born in [[Newton, Massachusetts]], the elder son of Mary Ann Brodie and Richard Brodie, a child psychologist. He graduated from [[Newton South High School]] and entered [[Harvard College]] in the fall of 1977, concentrating in applied mathematics with an emphasis on computer science. He left Harvard after his sophomore year and moved to [[Palo Alto, CA]] to work for [[Xerox|Xerox Corporation's]] Advanced Systems Division (ASD), where he met [[Charles Simonyi]] and helped develop the [[Bravo (editor)|Bravo X]] word processor for the Alto computer.<ref name="Manes">{{Cite book |last=Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBtPAAAAMAAJ |title=Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself the Richest Man in America |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1994 |isbn=0-671-88074-8}}</ref> Simonyi became a mentor to Brodie at Xerox and took him along when he moved to [[Microsoft]] in 1981.

===Microsoft===
Simonyi hired Brodie in 1981 as Microsoft's 77th employee and a founding member of the Microsoft Application Division.

Brodie distinguished himself at Microsoft by creating the first version of [[Microsoft Word]] in less than seven months.<ref name=Tsang /> In addition to primary authorship of Microsoft Word, he wrote Microsoft's first C compiler, the original version of [[Microsoft Notepad|Notepad]], and Word for the IBM PC Jr.

Brodie's success as a programmer brought him to the attention of [[Bill Gates]], who made Brodie his technical assistant in 1983.<ref>{{cite book | title = Heart at Work | author = Jack Canfield and Jacqueline Miller | publisher = McGraw-Hill | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-07-012030-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/heartatworkstori00jack }}</ref> Brodie's primary accomplishment as Gates's assistant was the management of the Cashmere project, which was released as Word for Windows.
During the Cashmere design, Brodie came up with the idea of the [[Combo box]] (a combination text box and drop-down menu widely used today), the [[Ribbon (computing)|Ribbon]] (a strip of buttons at the top of the screen used to display and change formatting), and the squiggly red underline that checks and flags spelling errors automatically. <ref name=Tsang />

Brodie left Microsoft after the company went public in 1986, but returned in 1991 as Chief Software Designer and Lead Developer of the Omega project, which was released as [[Microsoft Access]] in 1992. He left Microsoft again in 1994.<ref>{{cite book | title = Barbarians Led by Bill Gates: Microsoft From the Inside | author = Jennifer Edstrom and Marlin Eller | publisher = Henry Holt and Co. | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-8050-5755-2}}</ref>

===After leaving Microsoft===
Between his stints at Microsoft, Brodie embarked on a self-improvement quest, taking numerous courses and participating in retreats, seeking an answer to "why money and success didn’t make me happy."<ref>{{cite book | title = Getting Past OK: The Self-Help Book for People Who Don't Need Help | author = Richard Brodie}}</ref> He wrote about his experience in his first book, ''Getting Past OK: The Self-Help Book for People Who Don’t Need Help'', first published in 1993. It became a regional bestseller and was republished by [[Warner Books]]. He followed it with ''Virus of the Mind'' (1995), which explored the new field of [[memetics]] from a practical point of view. [[Hay House]] bought the rights to both books and currently publishes them in many languages worldwide.

Brodie spoke about his books on ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]'' and ''[[The Phil Donahue Show|Phil Donahue]]''.

===Poker player===
Apart from his careers as a programmer and author, Brodie has found creative ways to integrate his love of sports and games into his professional life. In 2003 he joined the professional [[poker]] circuit. He has finished in the money in five [[World Series of Poker]] events and six World Poker Tours. Until [[Black Friday (2011)|Black Friday]], he played as a [[Full Tilt Poker]] pro under the screen name Quiet Lion.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/richardBrodie.php | title = Richard "Quiet Lion" Brodie's Full Tilt Poker Pro Page}}</ref> He appeared on [[NBC|NBC's]] game show ''[[Identity (game show)|Identity]]'' and played himself in the movie ''[[The Grand (film)|The Grand]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2600039/ | title = Richard Brodie (III) | work = IMDB}}</ref>

In 2023, Brodie bested 440 players on his way to winning the 32nd annual [[World Recreational Gambling Poker Tournament]] (WRGPT) after 221 days of play.<ref>{{cite web |title=WRGPT History |url=http://www.wrgpt.org/wrgpt_history.php |work=WRGPT}}</ref> His efforts earned him $0 and an immutable place in poker history. 

Brodie currently resides in [[Kirkland, Washington]].