. The soft-spoken, affable Mr. Roberts never acquired the outsize public profile of cable pioneers like Ted Turner, John C. Malone, Charles F. Dolan and John Rigas, but his impact was comparable to theirs in making cable television a culture-changing industry giving viewers hundreds of channels, where they once had little more than a dozen, and persuading them to pay for something that had always been free. BEST DEAL! can stop at any time. Ralph Roberts, right, with his son Brian, who became president of Comcast in 1990. Sign up for service and obituary updates. I speak for all of us when I say he will be greatly missed. He has five children, aged 36 to 47. He was a gentle soul with an infectious spirit who will be greatly missed. If you know of an upcoming event for Douglas A. Roberts, please add one. He and his wife, the former Suzanne Fleisher, restored it. A remembrance ceremony to celebrate Roberts' life will follow at a future date. Let others know about your loved one's death. '', Or an arrogant one. Ralph was my personal mentor, teaching me how to build and maintain a great organizational culture irrespective of size," Bonovitz said. All Rights Reserved. Your entry has exceeded the maximum character limit. Ralph J. Roberts, who at the dawn of the cable television industry bought a small cable service in Tupelo, Miss., and built it into Comcast, today the largest cable television company in the nation, died Thursday night in Philadelphia. California residents do not sell my data request. As the years passed, Mr. Roberts, with his shock of white hair and signature bow tie, made sure that Comcast's homey values remained in place. Mr. Roberts has reason to track the way family-run companies pass the baton from one generation to next. They both deserve credit for that graceful interplay, but the lion's share goes to Ralph," said Burke, CEO of Comcast's NBCUniversal. But that verve was always tempered by a calm affability and a cautious approach to spending money. Leave a memory or share a photo or video below to show your support. ''It's a pretty close family. Mr. Roberts has by all accounts done a skillful job of grooming Brian to fill his shoes so that he is both respected by his peers and supported by his siblings. With over 1,900 locations, Dignity Memorial providers proudly serve over 375,000 families a year. Their simple philosophy was summed up by Mr. Roberts in an interview with The New York Times in 2007. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/22/business/the-heir-is-clearly-apparent-at-comcast.html. At least Comcast has the financial flexibility to make the transition work. ", "He's the same person as my boss that he has been as a dad; he's gracious, never interrupts when you're talking. ". Inquirer staff writer Harold Brubaker and former staff writer Thomas J. Brady contributed to this article. After graduating from Parkrose High School in 1968, Doug attended Willamette University, then he graduated with a BA and Masters in Public . Fleisher. Douglass Edward Roberts, 69, a lifelong resident of Swansea and the son of the late Edward Francis Roberts and Barbara (Douglass) Roberts, passed away on December 25, 2019. He recalled in a 1996 interview digging up his mother's marigolds and selling them to the neighbors. Obituary Roberts, Douglas David It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Douglas Roberts on August 1, 2013 at The Wellington Nursing Home in his 89th year. Make a life-giving gesture. The deal would have relegated Comcast, the biggest QVC shareholder, to be a minor, and passive, investor in CBS, and the elder Mr. Roberts wanted no part of that. DOUGLAS ROBERTS OBITUARY. Throughout his life, Roberts was involved in numerous community and civic activities, serving the boards of the Council of Emeritus Directors of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Brandywine Museum and Conservancy, among others. In the first days of Comcast, when colleagues Dan Aaron and Julian Brodsky clashed over how to expand the business, Mr. Roberts acted as the cheerful referee. Funeral arrangement under the care ofKeepes Funeral Home. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. Ralph J. Roberts, the man who founded Comcast Corp. with the purchase of a 1,200-subscriber cable television system in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1963, died Thursday night of natural causes in. Even as he is promoting his son, the elder Mr. Roberts is looking after the financial interests of his other children. "When?" He wants the other person to always feel good, whatever the exchange is. The memory of the fiasco still rankles Mr. Diller. He died on June 18, 2015, of natural causes. "That culture says that you have to care about the people you work with. Upon graduating high school, Douglas went on to attend Wilbur Wright College briefly before following in his fathers footsteps and serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. father . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 2023 WWB Holdings, LLC. He was able to keep it alive as the company grew. He was an icon, a mentor and friend to so many. BigDaddy, as he was known to his friends and family, had a remarkable passion and talent for athletics. Brian Roberts came to know Mr. Gates when a contingent of Comcast executives visited Microsoft on a fact-finding tour several years ago. They are not your blood family, but you spend so much time with them, you should treat them like family. Funeral Home website by. Jun 19, 2015. It may take up to 1 hour for your comment to appear on the website. Once Mr. Roberts began building Comcast, Brian, alone of his brood, frequented the company premises. That was evident earlier this month when Brian Roberts and the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, struck a deal in which Microsoft agreed to pay $1 billion for an 11.5 percent stake in Comcast. It also locked up broadcast rights to the Phillies. Genealogy for Douglas Roberts (1960 - 2011) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. ''Barry is very charismatic and hypnotic, but we were not going to lose our business and become a nonvoting stockholder of CBS to provide Barry with an entree to CBS.'' "During this period, even before 1979 . As an executive, Mr. Roberts had a knack for attracting talented people and giving them power, within limits. To make it work, you have to have motivated, competent successors as well as accommodating heirs. As Gregory B. Maffei, Microsoft's treasurer, sees it, the younger Mr. Roberts is no pawn of his father. IN THE CARE OF. Overnight, it went from 18th to fifth among cable firms in the United States, with two million customers. In 2011, fulfilling the Robertses long-held interest in NBC, Comcast acquired a majority stake in NBCUniversal from General Electric for $6.5 billion; in doing so, it became one of the industrys leading content producers. ''This is a relatively unusual situation,'' said Leon Danco, president of the Center for Family Studies. In his leisure time, on which Mr. Roberts insisted, he rode horses, foxhunted, and enjoyed his family. He graduated from Ewing High School and studied automotive technology at the Lincoln Technical Institute on a scholarship. Ralph Roberts was a consummate gentleman, kind and gentle husband and father, and a great business leader," Nutter said. In early 2011, after a protracted review by federal regulators, Comcast acquired 51 percent of NBC Universal from General Electric Co. At the time of his death, Mr. Roberts was past president and chairman emeritus of the public company, which has its headquarters on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. The former husband of Linda (Phillips) Roberts of Huntington, NY, he was the father of Leslie Roberts of Huntington and Daniel Roberts of Portland, OR. Douglas was born April 10, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA. He loved my mother and my entire family so much. His father's greatest skill, he said, ''is the ability to make the hard decision at the crucial moment.''. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. to the family or plant a tree It bottomed out at $16.375 last March and has recovered slightly, closing at $21.375 on Friday on Nasdaq. At one point, Ralph Roberts met with Mr. Immelt without Brian Roberts. The elder Mr. Roberts kept the titles of chairman and chief executive. "Ralph was a remarkable man who touched the lives of so many people. Comcast, with $68.8 billion in revenue and 139,000 employees, is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet, and telephone provider to homes. "Ralph Roberts is the absolutely most clear-cut example of the American dream," said former Gov. The acquisition, which faced scrutiny from Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, was scuttled in April of this year. ''They come in and tear each other apart. He also sold advertising on ink blotters. Ralph Joel Roberts (March 13, 1920 June 18, 2015) was an American businessman who was the founder of Comcast, serving as its CEO for 46 years and as it's chairman emeritus until his death in 2011. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The Elkins Park family would travel to places like Haiti and Guatemala to learn about other cultures. A Visitation will be held on Friday, March 3 from 10 am - 12 pm at Drake and Son Funeral Home, 5303 North Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60625. Questions? . He rose to president and chief executive at Pioneer and eventually bought the company. Mr. Gates told the group he believed the cable industry had been slow to upgrade its systems. Most recently, Roberts and his wife, Suzanne, received the Philadelphia Award to highlight their lifetime contributions to the city in business, philanthropy, and arts and culture. And the other children, who declined to be interviewed, are said to be knowledgeable about the plan and favorable to it. ''We would have discussions about our lives. Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, his alma matter, said, "His legacy is abundant here, including Penn Medicine's Roberts Proton Therapy Center, a place of hope and healing established in 2009 through the generosity of Ralph and his family. He was a killer dancer - the only thing he bragged about. ''Ralph is tough,'' he says ruefully. RALPH ROBERTS, the dapper 77-year-old founder of the Comcast Corporation, loves to follow the ups and downs of other family businesses and try to figure out what makes some thrive and others implode. Intrigued by the nascent cable industrys potential and aided by Mr. Aaron and Julian Brodsky, a Philadelphia accountant, Mr. Roberts decided to invest, overcoming his own initial misgivings and the even stronger doubts of his wife, Suzanne, who, he said, thought he was absolutely crazy., The cable business, you put up a tower, you run a line down through the telephone poles, you charge everybody $5 a month, and you dont do anything, so it didnt seem very appealing to me, Mr. Roberts recalled in receiving a television industry award in 2003. Comcast, the company that the venture became (with Mr. Aaron and Mr. Brodsky as its first two employees), has 27.2 million subscribers and produced $68.8 billion in revenue in 2014, the company said. [12] They had five children: Catherine, Lisa, Ralph Jr. (Rob), Brian, and Douglas (who died in 2011);[2] and eight grandchildren. Ralph Joel Roberts was born on March 13, 1920, in New York. CANDLE HAS BEEN LIT CANDLES HAVE BEEN LIT, We are reviewing your submission. '', Ralph Roberts acknowledges that he was the heavy. But during the Depression, Mr. Roberts recalled, ''my father died, and we lost all our money. '', See the article in its original context from. Wife Suzanna died on April 20, 2020 age 98", Ralph J. Roberts, Comcast Corporation Founder and Chairman Emeritus, dies at age 95, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ralph_J._Roberts&oldid=1141863531, This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 06:20. ''I don't think Ralph knows any more about Brian's personal life than he knows about the others. When not on the basketball court, Douglas loved playing cards, spending time with his family, and helping those less fortunate. ''There are the families that destroy each other as soon as the father or mother dies,'' Mr. Roberts said. Luckily, the youngster had business smarts as well as enthusiasm. There are no events at this time. When the club proved to be poorly made, however the shaft bent like a pretzel, Mr. Roberts said he quickly exited the business. He had resided in Leesburg for the past two years. Anyone can read what you share. When she was 60 years old, Mrs. Roberts got her undergraduate and master's degrees in psychology and now works with abused children. Committed to the fight against cancer, he and his family helped establish the Roberts Proton Therapy Center at Penn Medicine in 2006. ''Brian is the more active participant.''. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. It is the mother who will make it work. [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. I speak for all of us when I say he will be greatly missed. For example, it was Brian Roberts who was on the board of Turner Broadcasting before Time Warner bought it in 1996, and it was Brian who was president of the National Cable Television Association's board in 1995. Brian L. Roberts (born June 28, 1959) is an American billionaire businessman, and the chairman and CEO of Comcast, an American company providing cable, entertainment, and communications products and services which was founded by his father, Ralph J. Roberts. The elder Mr. Roberts has made sure that each of Brian's siblings will retain an economic stake in Comcast equal their brother's. He will always be remembered for his generosity, integrity, honesty, kindness and respect for everyone around him. Anyone can read what you share. "Ralph, the patient, unassuming gentleman, kept a steady hand on the wheel as they made a series of brilliant bets on the future," his son said in the biography. spouse. "He found the buttons to push.". In addition to his wife, Ralph is survived by four of his children and their spouses: Catherine R. Clifton and Anthony A. Clifton, Lisa S. Roberts and David Seltzer, Ralph Roberts Jr. and Kim Roberts, Brian L. Roberts and Aileen K. Roberts and Diane Roberts, widow of Ralph and Suzannes son Douglas Roberts, who passed away in September 2011. He sold it in 1961 to form his own venture capital firm, the International Equity Corporation, from which he began his foray into cable television. People who never had a financial problem in their lives can never understand what terror there is in that.''. The five children and their parents jointly own the holding company that owns Comcast's supervoting shares. Douglas was born April 10, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA. [4] He was awarded honorary degrees from both Holy Family College and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received their Joseph P. Wharton Award. That's his legacy: not leaving his children wanting. After Robert Roberts died in 1932, Ralphs mother, Sara, moved the family to the Germantown section of Philadelphia, to be near her ailing sister. [2][3] Roberts graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and served a four-year tour on duty in the United States Navy.[4]. The Roberts Family Remembers Ralph J. Roberts. Though his father called Comcast a family business, Brian was the only one of the children to show a serious interest in working with his father. Mr. Roberts allowed himself an indulgence - the purchase of a farm in Chester County. '', The son got the point. We would like to offer our sincere support to anyone coping with grief. (Mr. Bush won the states other Senate seat two years later.). "I have never heard Ralph raise his voice - never, ever. Ralph J. Roberts founded Comcast Corp. in 1963. An actress, director and host of Seeking Solutions with Suzanne, Suzanne has spent a lifetime seeking to help others. Comcast, a name Roberts coined from the words communications and broadcasting. He had a way of leading and managing that is razor-smart, focused, intuitive, strong, but all with a velvet glove," said chief communications officer D'Arcy Rudnay. And her husband reminisced about family trips. Contributions may be made to the Germantown Boys and Girls Club, 25 W. Penn St., Philadelphia 19144, or the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia 19103, or at http://unitedforimpact.org/ways-to-give. It also sells those services to businesses. Your email will not be used for any other purpose. Another son, Douglas, died in September 2011. His plan is to turn over the votes to Brian but make sure to divide the financial pie fairly among all the offspring. Through the 1970s and '80s, it built cable networks, learned to maintain them, and profited by Mr. Roberts' favorite element - recurring monthly income. In 2014, Comcast proposed a $45.2 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable. chief executive, Jeffrey R. Immelt, that the deal would be completed. He was born Sept. 8, 1950 to Robert and Blanche Roberts in Portland. And Peter Barton, the former president of Liberty Media, recalled that Brian Roberts played the key role in a complicated deal with Liberty involving the purchase of Time Warner's stake in E Entertainment, a cable-service company, for $321 million. ALL along, however, Mr. Roberts has drawn his son closer to the center of action inside Comcast and pushed him into the spotlight outside the company. DOUGLAS ROBERTS OBITUARY ROBERTS, DOUGLAS M. Lawton Passed away July 28, 2012 at his residence. Doug was predeceased by his infant. Now Brian typically takes the lead.''. Ralph J. 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