Xerox

One of the more quietly influential companies in the 1970s and 1980s, famous for its copying machines, Xerox founded in the 1960s the Palo Alto Research Center, which came with many brilliant ideas like the mouse, and the usable personal computer, but Xerox management wasn't impressed, and decided not to market their inventions.

Founded in Rochester, New York in 1906 as The Haloid Company, Xerox has grown to be one of the world leaders in all sorts of document technology, particularly copiers and printers. This growth (and the name change) was due mostly to the licensing of Chester F. Carlson's new process of Xerography. Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) is almost legendary amongst geeks.

While the company is now headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, it maintains several facilities in the Rochester area and is still one of the area's largest employers, along with Kodak and Wegmans.

My girlfriend works for Xerox. Woo.