John Richard "Jack" Simplot, 99, died yesterday of natural causes at his Boise home. J.R. Simplot founded the J. R. Simplot Company, at times the largest supplier of potatoes in the United States, and provided startup capital for leading memory maker Micron Technology.

Simplot, an eighth grade dropout, allegedly founded his company in 1923 when he was 14 with four gold coins given to him by his mother. He managed to become, by World War II, the largest shipper of fresh potatoes in the nation, mainly due to his contracts with the military.

The J. R. Simplot Company also succeeded to develop, thanks to a brilliant chemist, a process which yielded frozen French fries of acceptable quality. This led to Simplot becoming McDonald's largest supplier of French fries in the 1960. His financing of Micron Technology in the 1980s, which is based also in Boise, has significantly helped the company achieve its current status in the semiconductor business.

In 2007 it was estimated that Simplot and his family were the 89th-richest Americans, at $3.6 billion. At the stunning age 99, he was also the oldest living billionaire on the Forbes 400 list.

Simplot suffered trauma to the head last year after falling from a motorized scooter in Glendale, Arizona. He was there with his wife and son, attending the Fiesta Bowl, the college football bowl game.