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Friday, June 19, 2015

Comcast Founder Passes Away

Ralph Roberts, founder of Comcast Corporation, has passed away at the age of 95.  And while his son Brian has been running the organization for quite some time, it was Ralph Roberts with his partner Julian Brodsky, that started the organization in the early 1960s.  Purchasing a small cable operator and setting up shop in Philadelphia.  From there, it was a series of acquisitions ( and some that didn't, like the most recent Time Warner Cable merger attempt), that has grown the MPVD or multi-platform vidio distributor (traditionally known as an MSO or multi-system operator) into the largest operator in the USA. 

Ralph and his team turned the company from a cable company into a multi-business platform powerhouse of cable, telephone, and broadband.  And with the purchase of NBCUniversal, a leader in content creation and distribution, Comcast only continues to grow.  While their have been a number of outsized personalities in the cable industry, including John Rigas of Adelphia fame, Roberts was known to be a gentleman.  His entrepreneurial efforts and ongoing philanthropy, notably in the Philadelphia area, will surely cement his legacy.  I am certain he will be missed.