Former HP chairwoman Patricia Dunn dies at 58

Patricia Dunn. AP FILE PHOTO

NEW YORK — Patricia Dunn, who stepped down as chairwoman of US computer giant Hewlett-Packard in 2006 amid a boardroom spying scandal, has died at the age of 58, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Dunn died of ovarian cancer on Sunday at her home in Orinda, California, her husband, William Jahnke, told the newspaper.

Dunn, a former chief executive of Barclays Global Investors, was named chairwoman of the Palo Alto, California-based HP, the world’s number one computer maker, in February 2005.

She was forced out the following year following revelations that HP hired private investigators to spy on HP board members, HP employees and journalists in a bid to identify the source of leaks to the media.

Dunn was brought up on criminal charges in connection with the surveillance, which included phone-tapping and other tactics, but they were dismissed by a California judge in March 2007.