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Ozwell E. Spencer is a fictional character from the Resident Evil series. He is the owner and co-founder of the fictional Umbrella Corporation, and is often mentioned within documents in the Resident Evil series. However, he has never made a physical appearance in any of the series' installments.

The Spencer family emblem found on several important objects in Resident Evil.

Spencer is one of Resident Evil's most important and mysterious side characters. In the series, he is the owner and co-founder of the Umbrella Corporation, a fictional pharmaceutical company that secretly manufactures bio-organic weapons.^[1] His colleagues, James Marcus and Edward Ashford, join his company, but show more interest in studying the newly discovered Progenitor virus.^[1] Eventually, Ashford dies, and Spencer seizes control of the company and its research by sending his subordinates (Albert Wesker and William Birkin) to assassinate Marcus.^[2][3]

Spencer conducts some of his company’s research in a mansion laboratory, in the Arklay Mountains. He originally hires George Trevor, a famed architect to construct the mansion, but soon became paranoid that Trevor knows too much about the mansion’s secrets.^[4] Spencer kills Trevor, and kidnaps his wife and daughter (Jessica and Lisa Trevor). Rather than killing the two, Spencer uses the two as human guinea pigs for Umbrella’s Research,^[5] in events that are detailed in the Wesker Report and the GameCube Resident Evil Remake.

Spencer’s plans progress smoothly, until James Marcus returns from the dead,^[6] and begins to seek revenge with the help of his test subjects. Marcus destroys one of Spencer’s luxury trains, and causes a viral outbreak in the Mansion Laboratory.^[7] Anticipating trouble, Spencer dispatches his loyal enforcer, Sergei Vladimir, to the Mansion in order to recover Umbrella's promising Talos prototype before the facility's destruction.The outbreak spreads throughout the region, sparking the events of Resident Evil Zero and the original Resident Evil. The virus subsequently spreads to Raccoon City during the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3, prompting the US Government to contain the outbreak by ordering the nuclear destruction of the city.^[8]

After the city's destruction, Spencer attempts to cover the incident as a government conspiracy by hiring top lawyers and false witnesses. His actions prolong the legal proceedings, and allows the Umbrella Corporation to stay afloat for five more years. Ultimately, Albert Wesker betrays Spencer by handing over top-secret documents to the United States Government..^[9] Wesker seals Spencer's doom by personally testifying against him in court. Umbrella's business license is summarily suspended, and the United States Government swiftly works to dismantle the remains of the organization.^[10] Spencer himself remains at large, seemingly vanishing after Umbrella's public fall from grace.

• The Official Resident Evil Website