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   alt.politics.economics      "Its the economy, stupid"      345,374 messages   

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   Message 344,295 of 345,374   
   davidp to All   
   =?UTF-8?Q?Ralph_Joel_Roberts_=281920=E2=   
   07 Sep 23 09:15:34   
   
   From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   Ralph Joel Roberts (1920–2015) was founder of Comcast, serving as its CEO   
   for 46 years and as its chairman emeritus until his death.   
      
   He was born in New York City. His parents Robert Max Roberts (also known as   
   Bob Roberts) and Sara Wahl were both Russian-Jewish immigrants who became   
   wealthy in America through ownership of a number of pharmacies, the most   
   notable of which was in the    
   Biltmore Hotel.[1]   
      
   When Roberts was five the family moved to New Rochelle NY, and then after his   
   father died of a heart-attack, to Germantown, Philadelphia when he was   
   seventeen to live with his stepfather Harry Bobrow, of Bobrow Brothers   
   Cigars.[2][3] Roberts graduated    
   from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and served a   
   four-year tour on duty in the US Navy.[4]   
      
   After leaving the Navy, Roberts held various jobs, first selling golf clubs,   
   then working for the Muzak Company, and later the Pioneer Suspender Company,   
   which he eventually owned. Using the proceeds from Pioneer, he started   
   purchasing local community    
   antenna TV systems which brought TV to people in rural areas,[2] which were   
   then underserved by big broadcasters.   
      
   In 1963, he and his partners, Daniel Aaron and Julian A. Brodsky, paid   
   $500,000 for a 1,200-subscriber cable TV operator in Tupelo, Mississippi,   
   called American Cable Systems.[5] They incorporated in 1969 as Comcast   
   Corporation, a name Roberts invented    
   by combining the words communications and broadcasting.[2]   
      
   Roberts has been credited with expanding Comcast into the largest cable   
   television company in the United States.[6]   
      
   Roberts served on the boards of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Brandywine   
   River Museum, the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, and the PENN   
   Medicine Board of Trustees.[4] Roberts received awards from the National Cable   
   and Telecommunications    
   Association, the Walter Kaitz Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai   
   B'rith, The National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Urban League of   
   Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the Golden Plate   
   Award of the American    
   Academy of Achievement,[7] and the National Academy of Television Arts &   
   Sciences.[4] He was awarded honorary degrees from both Holy Family College and   
   the University of Pennsylvania, where he received their Joseph P. Wharton   
   Award.[4] In 1998, the    
   Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted Roberts into their Hall of   
   Fame.[8] The Suzanne F. and Ralph J. Roberts Foundation was one of the largest   
   contributors to the restoration of the Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue   
   at Eastern State    
   Penitentiary in Philadelphia named in the honor of his father-in-law.[9]   
      
   In 1942, Roberts married Suzanne Fleisher,[10] who was also Jewish,[2] an   
   actress and playwright, and daughter of philanthropist Alfred W. Fleisher.[11]   
   Her name appears on the Suzanne Roberts Theatre in Philadelphia and she hosted   
   a TV program aimed at    
   seniors called "Seeking Solutions with Suzanne" on Comcast's CN8 network.[12]   
   They had five children: Catherine, Lisa, Ralph Jr. (Rob), Brian, and Douglas   
   (who died in 2011);[2] and eight grandchildren. Their son, Brian L. Roberts,   
   is the current CEO of    
   Comcast Corporation.[13][14]   
      
   Roberts made an appearance on TLC's reality series Cake Boss, receiving a cake   
   for his 90th birthday. He died on June 18, 2015, of natural causes.[15][16]   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_J._Roberts   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   

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