NEW YORK -- Ralph Roberts, a cable pioneer who built Comcast from a small cable TV system in Mississippi into an entertainment and communications behemoth, has died. He was 95.
Comcast said in a statement that Roberts died Thursday night in Philadelphia of natural causes.
He was in his 40s when he began his career in the fledgling cable industry, with a $500,000 purchase of American Cable Systems, a company with 1,200 subscribers in Tupelo, Miss. A string of acquisitions followed. Roberts changed the name of the company to Comcast and ran it until he was in his 80s.
He handed control of the company to one of his sons, Brian, who is now Comcast's chairman and CEO, while keeping the title of chairman emeritus.
Roberts, who was known for wearing a bowtie to work every day, had grand ambitions. "Ralph was always about what comes next, what's the next deal," said Steve Burke, CEO of NBCUniversal, who has worked at Comcast for 17 years.
Comcast is the nation's largest provider of cable TV and home Internet service as well as the owner of NBCUniversal, home of the NBC network, a slew of cable channels, film studio Universal Pictures and theme parks.
Ralph Joel Roberts was born in New York City on March 13, 1920, into an affluent family. They owned a drugstore chain in Westchester County, N.Y. But things took a dire turn during the Depression.
That experience gave Roberts the determination to seek financial security.
His family moved to Philadelphia and Roberts put himself through the University of Pennsylvania. One of his first jobs was with Aitken Kynett Advertising Agency, where he worked his way up from researcher to account executive.
A client at Aitken Kynett was the local franchise of Muzak Corp., the company behind elevator music. Roberts joined Muzak and rose to vice president.
But he didn't like the pressures of the job and sought to leave. A recruiter brought him to Pioneer Suspender Co., a maker of men's accessories such as belts, suspenders and ties, and two years later he would buy the company.
In 1961, he sold the company. Using money from the sale, Roberts set up an investment company. A street encounter with an acquaintance led to his purchase of American Cable Systems.
In 1969, the company was renamed Comcast -- a combination of "communications" and "broadcast" -- and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Roberts began acquiring smaller cable systems and built the company into the nation's fifth-largest by 1988. Two years later, his son would become president of Comcast and continued the expansion Roberts began.
The company became the country's largest cable TV operator, with 22 million customers, when it bought AT&T Broadband, the telephone company's cable systems, in 2002.
Roberts stayed CEO of Comcast until 2002, when he was 82, before ceding the title of chief executive to his son. That year he also left the chairman's post.
But even in 2009, as Comcast was negotiating to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co., Ralph Roberts played a role. In July 2009 Roberts and Comcast's chief operating officer, Steve Burke, flew to Sun Valley, Idaho, to meet with GE's CEO, Jeff Immelt. It was after that meeting that Comcast and GE struck a deal.
A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Roberts also served in the U.S. Navy. He was a well-known philanthropist in Philadelphia, supporting such efforts as Project H.O.M.E., an outreach program for the homeless.
Roberts is survived by his wife of 72 years, Suzanne, four of his five children and eight grandchildren.
"He will always be remembered for his generosity, integrity, honesty, kindness and respect for everyone around him," the Roberts family said in a statement Friday.
A Section on 06/20/2015