He was among the first backers of Apple Computer and 3Com, earning windfalls, but it was his humaneness that distinguished him from other venture capitalists.

C. Richard Kramlich, an early investor in Silicon Valley who co-founded the investment giant New Enterprise Associates, helping to fuel the booming tech industry, died on Saturday at his home in San Francisco. He was 89.

His death was announced by New Enterprise Associates.

Mr. Kramlich (pronounced CRAM-lick), whose career spanned more than five decades, was among the earliest backers of Apple Computer; the software companies Silicon Graphics and Macromedia; and the computer networking companies Juniper Networks and 3Com, whose founders invented the Ethernet.

He co-founded his own firm, New Enterprise Associates, or NEA, building it from an initial $16 million fund in the 1970s to one that now oversees investments of nearly $26 billion.

But he stood out among Silicon Valley’s sea of swashbuckling financiers because of his grace

Keep reading this article on The New York Times Small Business.