When cyber security magnate John McAfee attempted to run for the White House in 2016, he invoked a Silicon Valley mantra from Steve Jobs in his campaign video, celebrating nonconformists: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes.”
McAfee, who was found dead in a Spanish prison cell on Wednesday as a result of an apparent suicide, fitted each of those descriptions — and more.
In his 75 years, the pioneer of his eponymous antivirus software built and lost a fortune, recast himself as a libertarian politician, and then as a cryptocurrency hype man — all while having repeated brushes with the law.