Roger D. Linquist (June 26, 1938 – September 16, 2015)Obituary
/ref> was an American businessman who was the chairman, chief executive officer and co-founder of

Metro PCS Metro by T-Mobile (formerly known as MetroPCS and also known simply as Metro) is an American prepaid mobile phone, prepaid wireless service provider and brand owned by T-Mobile US. It previously operated the fifth largest mobile telecommunicat ...

. He also founded LJ Entertainment Inc in 1995.

Early life

Raised by a single mother in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Linquist studied mechanical engineering at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, graduating in 1961. He was a member of two national engineering honor societies,

Pi Tau Sigma Pi Tau Sigma () is an international honor society in the field of mechanical engineering, with most chapters established in the United States. It honors mechanical engineering students who have exemplified the "principles of scholarship, characte ...

and

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

. He continued his graduate studies at the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory in the School of Mechanical Engineering, graduating in 1963 with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. He finished his formal education after receiving an MBA at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Career

Linquist founded

as General Wireless, Inc. in 1994. The company was later acquired by

T-Mobile US T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which , holds 48.4 perc ...

. Before his death, Linquist served as CEO and Managing Partner of NXGen Partners, a private equity company based in Dallas.

Awards

* 2011: Entrepreneur of the Year award by Inc. in the category media.

Personal life

Linquist died of cancer in 2015. He was married to Sue (Sandel) Linquist. Together they had four children, two sons and two daughters.

References

People from Richardson, Texas American telecommunications industry businesspeople American chief operating officers People from Elmwood Park, Illinois Deaths from cancer in Texas Purdue University College of Engineering alumni Kellogg School of Management alumni American mechanical engineers Engineers from Illinois 1938 births 2015 deaths {{business-bio-stub