H. Ross Perot died last week at age 89. A graveside service and memorial service will be held today in Dallas. We join the millions of Americans who wish to pay tribute to Perot, a no-nonsense, self-made man who was worth billions and nearly became president.

Perot is best known for his 1992 run as an independent candidate for president. With a grassroots organization, a big collection of pie charts, a talent for folksy expressions like “That giant sucking sound you hear is jobs going to Mexico!” and $63 million of his own money, he got 19 percent of the vote. Republicans blamed him for President George H.W. Bush’s loss to Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

Perot never achieved anything like that success in another run four years later, and his attempt to form the Reform Party faltered, but not before establishing the idea of independent, grass-roots campaigns that thumbed their noses at the established political parties. That spirit helped get Jesse Ventura be elected governor of Minnesota, and some political analysts connect Donald Trump’s election to the presidency as an offshoot of that anti-establishment ideal.

Perot made his billions with Electronic Data Systems through hard work, vision, salesmanship and the willingness to do the jobs that IBM and other big hitters did not want to do.

He was a boss who cared about his employees, even to the point of hiring a commando team to get two EDS executives jailed in Iran out of prison. He was a staunch supporter of military veterans, POWs and MIAs.

Perot was a truly unique individual who started small, dreamed big and changed this country in many ways. One change he could not achieve was getting the public and politicians to care enough about the federal debt to do something about it. But this too will come. Perot’s warnings then still ring true today, and the day of reckoning is coming.