John Roberts Opel was a U.S. computer businessman. He served as the president of IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 between 1974 and 1985. He then served as the CEO of IBM from 1981 to 1985. Finally he was the chairman of IBM between 1983 and 1986. A discussion he had with Mary Maxwell Gates

Mary Maxwell Gates

Mary Maxwell Gates was an American businessperson. Gates served 18 years on the University of Washington board of regents...

 while they were both serving on the board of United Way resulted in an IBM contract being placed with her son Bill's company Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 to create an operating system for IBM's first personal computer.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Opel grew up in Jefferson City, Mo. He majored in English at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri

Fulton, Missouri

Fulton is a city in Callaway County, Missouri, the United States of America. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 12,790 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Callaway County...

. He then fought in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 and Okinawa in World War II and earned a MBA degree from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 in 1949.

Upon graduation, Opel had two job offers, one to rewrite economics textbooks, and the other to take over his father’s hardware business. While taking a fishing trip with his father and a family friend who worked for IBM, he was offered a third a job as a salesman in central Missouri, and accepted.

In 1959 Mr. Opel became executive assistant to IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson Jr., after which he rose rapidly, taking positions in manufacturing and public relations and other departments, and managed the introduction of the IBM System 360 mainframe computer in 1964.

Opel died at his Fort Myers, Florida

Fort Myers, Florida

Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....

home in 2011. He was 86.