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Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Larry Tesler, pictured at the PC Forum in
1989, worked to make computers more accessible
Larry Tesler, an icon of early computing, has died at the age of 74.
Mr Tesler started working in Silicon Valley in the early 1960s, at a time when computers were
inaccessible to the vast majority of people.
It was thanks to his innovations - which included the "cut", "copy" and "paste" commands - that the
personal computer became simple to learn and use.
Xerox, where Mr Tesler spent part of his career, paid tribute to him.
"The inventor of cut/copy & paste, find & replace, and more, was former Xerox researcher Larry
Tesler," the company tweeted. "Your workday is easier thanks to his revolutionary ideas."
Mr Tesler was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1945, and studied at Stanford University in
California.
Larry Tesler: The Silicon Valley history man
After graduating, he specialised in user interface design - that is, making computer systems more
user-friendly.
He worked for a number of major tech firms during his long career. He started at Xerox Palo Alto
Research Center (Parc), before Steve Jobs poached him for Apple, where he spent 17 years and rose
to chief scientist.
After leaving Apple he set up an education start-up, and worked for brief periods at Amazon and
Yahoo.
Media captionIn 2012, Larry Tesler spoke with the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones
In 2012, he told the BBC of Silicon Valley: "There's almost a rite of passage - after you've made
some money, you don't just retire, you spend your time funding other companies.
"There's a very strong element of excitement, of being able to share what you've learned with the
next generation."