‘A man in a leather jacket who treated employees like human beings’: Nvidia VP recalls how Jensen Huang went out of his way to help him fight ‘nasty’ cancer, winning hearts online

An Nvidia executive has bestowed a deeply emotional account of former CEO Jensen Huang’s compassion towards employees and how, in one instance, the billionaire personally went the extra mile to help him fight cancer when he was at his “lowest point.”

John Zedlewski, Nvidia's vice-president of accelerated data science, who has been with the company for over 10 years, shared his last year’s experience in a lengthy X post, saying Huang immediately contacted his connections at Stanford University after learning about his ‘nasty’ illness. When I was hospitalized again at my lowest point last year, I told Jensen,” Zedlewski wrote on Saturday, November 14.

“He immediately reached out to contacts at Stanford, who were able to cut through red tape, and get me into a clinical trial for which I've turned out to be a perfect fit,” he added.


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Zedlewski, acknowledging everyone’s different views around the former Nvidia boss’s personal life, strongly pushed back against the claim that “Jensen did not really care about his staff.”

“I think everyone can have their own views about recent events. But any claims that Jensen did not really care about his staff is simply inaccurate,” he wrote. “I, personally, owe him more than I can express.”

As of writing, the post was viewed over 2.4 million times, and 21,000 people liked it within a day. “I have a particularly nasty case of cancer.


And after being shared by different X accounts, a part of the reaction was very supportive of Huang and his leadership, who want him back at the top post of the $4 trillion compnay.

In one such instance, one commentator wrote, “Politics can kill people, and capital can devour them. Those bastards have no idea that in this cold Silicon Valley, there was once a man in a leather jacket who treated his employees like human beings.”

Jensen Huang’s string of scandals

Zedlewski's tribute landed at a time when a series of jolting reports about Huang's personal life has placed the Nvidia co-founder under intense scrutiny.

The New York Times first reported on October 29 that Alice Huang, a Singapore-based businesswoman, had developed an unusually close relationship with the Nvidia chief and was suspected by US intelligence officials of having links to Chinese intelligence.

On November 8, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a message to Nvidia employees, without naming Alice.

“I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry,” he wrote.

The same day, Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation into the national security concerns raised by the reports. Huang said he would cooperate with the investigation.

The controversy widened on November 11 when the New York Times reported that Huang had also allegedly been involved with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice-president of healthcare, who reportedly reported directly to him.

When approached by the newspaper, Huang reportedly responded: “I don't think you should be talking to me directly.” With intense pressure, the Nvidia board of directors announced on November 12 that Jensen Huang had resigned from the post after 30 years at the company he co-founded in 1993.

Within hours, Reuters reported that Huang had an intimate relationship with a second Nvidia employee, separate from Powell, citing two people's knowledge of the matter. The news agency, however, did not name the employee.