American businessman (–)
John V. Roach (November 22, – March 20, ) was an American executive. He was one of the early proponents of the personal computer, launching the Tandy TRS[1][2][3]
John Vinson Roach II was born on November 22, , in Stamford, Texas, and moved to Fort Worth at the age of four.[4] His mother, Agnes Margaret Roach nee Handon, was a nurse and his father owned a grocery store in Fort Worth.[1]
Roach studied physics and mathematics at Texas Christian University and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in [5] 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 He also started experimenting with mainframes in college.[1]
In , he joined the Tandy Corporation, a conglomerate that owned Radioshack, as a data processing manager.[6] In the following years, he played a key role in the company’s decision to venture into the budding personal computer market.
In January , he presented the original TRS prototype to Tandy’s CEO Charles Tandy and Radioshack’s president Lewis Kornfeld. At just under $,[7] the TRS quickly became the best-selling personal computer on the market.[8] To write the software code for the TRS, Tandy hired eventual Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
Roach became RadioShack’s executive vice president in [9] Tandy's computer success helped Roach become CEO in [10] In he was named chief executive and chairman of Tandy, two positions he held until [1] After leaving Tandy, Roach briefly served as CEO of Justin Industries before retiring.[11]
In the s, Roach also served as chairman of Texas Christian University’s board of trustees.[5] In this role, he helped to double the university’s endowment to more than $1 billion and built a technology center. In , the John V. Roach Honors College was endowed in his honor at Texas Christian University.[1]