Tech leaders pay tribute to Oracle's Mark Hurd, who died on Friday
- Mark Hurd spent five years as one of Oracle's two CEOs, and before that he led Hewlett-Packard and NCR.
- Hurd died on Friday, weeks after taking a medical leave of absence.
- Executives from Salesforce, Microsoft and other former competitors paid tribute to Hurd.
Tributes from technology leaders poured in for Mark Hurd, who died on Friday at age 62, just weeks after announcing that he was taking a medical leave of absence from the company he co-led starting in 2014.
Hurd, an industry veteran who was CEO of Hewlett-Packard before joining Oracle as president in 2010, was hailed by fellow tech executives, including some former rivals.
"We lost an iconic leader in high-tech today," former Cisco CEO John Chambers told CNBC on Friday. "Having known Mark Hurd as a peer and a competitor, I have tremendous respect for him and the differences he has made in the industry. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and the employees of Oracle. Mark will be missed."
Hurd "presided over mega accomplishments," Bill McDermott, who stepped down last week as SAP's CEO, wrote on Twitter.
Judson Althoff, executive vice president in charge of Microsoft's worldwide commercial business, said in a tweet that he learned from Hurd while working with him at Oracle.
Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff also took to Twitter with his condolences:
"He was always very kind to me & I always enjoyed seeing him at the Warriors at Oracle Arena," wrote Benioff, a former executive at Oracle.
The Golden State Warriors played their last game at Oracle Arena in Oakland earlier this year, and have since moved to San Francisco and the new Chase Center. The team purchased the land for the new arena from Salesforce in 2015.