John V. Roach (November 22, 1938 – March 20, 2022) was an American executive. He was one of the early proponents of the

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

, launching the

Tandy TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...

Early life and education

John Vinson Roach II was born on November 22, 1938, in

Stamford, Texas Stamford is a city on the border of Jones and Haskell Counties in west-central Texas. The population was 3,124 at the 2010 census, down from 3,636 at the 2000 census. Henry McHarg, president of the Texas Central Railroad, named the site in 1900 fo ...

, and moved to Fort Worth at the age of four. His mother, Agnes Margaret Roach nee Handon, was a nurse and his father owned a grocery store in Fort Worth. Roach studied physics and mathematics at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1961. After working for two years at the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, he returned to the university and earned a master’s in business administration in 1965. He also started experimenting with mainframes in college.

Career

In 1967, he joined the

Tandy Corporation Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. By the end of the 1950s, under the tutelage of then-CEO Charles Tandy, ...

, a conglomerate that owned

Radioshack RadioShack, formerly RadioShack Corporation, is an American retailer founded in 1921. At its peak in 1999, RadioShack operated over 8,000 worldwide stores named RadioShack or Tandy Electronics in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Austra ...

, as a data processing manager. In the following years, he played a key role in the company’s decision to venture into the budding personal computer market. In January 1977, he presented the original TRS-80 prototype to Tandy’s CEO

Charles Tandy Charles David Tandy (15 May 1918 – 4 November 1978) was the chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of the Tandy Corporation. Early life Charles Tandy was born in Brownsville, Texas to Dave L. Tandy, who ran the Hinckley-T ...

and Radioshack’s president Lewis Kornfeld. At just under $600, the TRS-80 quickly became the best-selling personal computer on the market. To write the software code for the TRS-80, Tandy hired eventual Microsoft co-founders

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

and

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which h ...

. Roach became RadioShack’s executive vice president in 1978. He was appointed chief operating officer in 1980. In 1983, he was named chief executive and chairman of Tandy, two positions he held until he retired in 1999. In the 1990s, Roach also served as chairman of Texas Christian University’s board of trustees. In this role, he helped to double the university’s endowment to more than $1 billion and built a technology center. In 2007, the John V. Roach Honors College was endowed in his honor at Texas Christian University.

References

1938 births 2022 deaths People from Stamford, Texas Texas Christian University alumni American technology executives {{US-business-bio-1930s-stub