Jack Daulton

Daulton received his B.S., with honors, from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978 and his J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1981. Daulton later attended graduate school at Northern Illinois University where he studied the history of Southeast Asian art under the supervision of Professor Richard Cooler, then Director of the Center for Burma studies, and, having been awarded a FLAS fellowship,[10] studied the Burmese language under the supervision of Professor Saya U Saw Tun. During his time at NIU, Daulton researched, documented, and published, in the Journal of Burma Studies, the story of the relics of two of the Buddha's main disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana, at the Kaba Aye Pagoda in Myanmar.[11]

In 1991, an ancient Buddha statue from a Burmese temple was identified in a Sotheby's auction catalog by an NIU professor specializing in Burmese art, Dr. Richard Cooler. After the FBI tried unsuccessfully for 3 years to prove that the statue was stolen, they enlisted Dr. Cooler to help demonstrate the origins of the statue. Cooler contacted his former student, Daulton, both a specialist in Burmese art and a litigator, to represent Myanmar in the case. Daulton and Cooler were able to demonstrate that the statue, which had been broken off at the legs, matched up with the lower third of the statue that still stood in the temple in Myanmar.[12][13] The national treasure was returned with great gratitude from the Burmese government.[14][15] The case was highly publicized, a reflection of growing interest in the return of stolen ancient cultural properties to their countries of origin.[16][17][18]

The Daulton Collection is an eclectic collection of art and artifacts from all over the world. The current acquisitional focus of the collection is symbolist art, of which the collection contains several notable works including "Hexenwald" ("Witch of the Woods") by Julie Wolfthorn, as well as the largest collection of Gabriel von Max works in the world. Pieces from the collection are frequently featured in exhibitions in Europe and the US. A 2011 exhibition at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington entitled Gabriel von Max: Be-tailed Cousins and Phantasms of the Soul featured the Daulton Collection's many works by the artist.[19][20]

With his partner, software executive Roz Ho, Daulton has funded research expeditions around the globe, particularly in the fields of archaeology and linguistics. Expeditions funded by Daulton include the following:

• July 2013, Micronesian Linguistics Expedition: expedition to document endangered languages on remote islands in Micronesia, including Mwoakilloa Atoll. This expedition was organized by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages (Dr. K. David Harrison and Dr. Gregory Anderson (linguist), expedition leaders). Daulton was also a member of the expedition team as an ethnographic interviewer and photographer.[21]

• July-August 2016, Wiracochan Archeological expedition: expedition to excavate, survey, and map Inca and pre-Inca sites on a mountain called Wiracochan in the Vilcabamba mountain range of the Peruvian Andes (Peter Frost expedition leader).[22][23]

• November 2017, Arunachal Pradesh Linguistics Expedition: expedition to document endangered languages in the remote northwest area of Arunachal Pradesh State, India, in particular the Sartang language of West Kameng district (Dr. Gregory Anderson (linguist), expedition leader). Daulton was also a member of the expedition team as an ethnographer and photographer.[24]

• July 2018, Pico Cão Grande Climbing Expedition: expedition to make the first American free climb of Pico Cão Grande, a 1,200-foot volcanic spire arising from the rainforest on Sao Tome (Island) off of the equatorial coast of west Africa.[25][26]

Daulton and his partner Roz Ho, as executive producers, also funded two short documentary films arising out of the Wiracochan and Pico Cão Grande expeditions, respectively: “Vilcabamba – A Sacred Valley,” 2018, directors Kyle McBurnie and Kevin Floerke;[27] and “Nubivagant 360 VR,” 2019, director Jacob Kupferman (Official Selection Horsetooth International Film Festival 2019, Official Selection Edmonton Short Film Festival 2019, Official Selection and Finalist NZ Web Fest 2019, and Official Selection Woodbury Film Festival 2020).[25][28][29][30][31][32] Another short film from the Pico Cão Grande expedition, entitled "Why We Climb," director Jacob Kupferman, was a finalist in the 2019 Roam Awards. [33][34]

Daulton and his partner Roz Ho have also provided financial support to paleoanthropological research and exploration undertaken by the Institute of Human Origins (Donald Johanson, founding director), Arizona State University, where Daulton is on the Research Council,[35] and at the Turkana Basin Institute (Louise Leakey, director), Stony Brook University.[36] In addition, Daulton has provided significant funding to the Last Mile Technology Program (photographer Chris Rainier, director), supplying indigenous groups with modern technology to document their traditional culture.[37]

Daulton is a member of the Explorers Club.

Daulton currently resides in Los Altos Hills, California with his longtime partner, pioneering software executive Roz Ho (currently VP, Hewlett Packard, formerly VP, Microsoft, Ericsson, and TiVo), a 2018 Women in Technology International Hall of Fame inductee.[38] He has two children: Dr. Melanie Daulton (MD, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago) and Sam Daulton (research scientist, Facebook), both elite rock climbers.[39][40][41]