Musser 2005 Excellence in Leadership Award
Ralph J. Roberts, Founder
Comcast Corporationr
Ralph J. Roberts
Ralph J. Roberts founded Comcast Corporation with the purchase of a 1,700-subscriber cable television system in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1963. From Comcast’s humble roots, Mr. Roberts went on to create a company that today serves 21.5 million cable customers in 35 states, is the nation’s leading broadband provider employing 74,000 people. Today he is Chairman of the Company’s Executive and Finance Committee, and his son Brian serves as Chairman and CEO.
Prior to starting Comcast, Mr. Roberts was President and CEO of Pioneer Industries, a leading men’s clothing accessories company, Vice President of Muzak Corporation, and an account executive with Aitken Kynett Advertising Agency.
Mr. Roberts graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and served a four-year tour of duty in the U.S. Navy. He also participated in continuing education programs at Harvard Business School.
Mr. Roberts, 85, is involved in numerous community and civic activities. He currently serves on the Council of Emeritus Directors of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the board of the Brandywine Museum and Conservancy, as well as the Advisory Board of the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, and the Penn Medicine Board of Trustees, University of Pennsylvania Health System. He served on the boards of Philadelphia Electric Company and CoreStates Financial Corporation, national and regional boards of the National Conference for Community and Justice (formerly National Conference of Christians and Jews), and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and as a Trustee of the Albert Einstein Medical Center. He is also a Charter Member of the World Business Council.
His business, entrepreneurial and humanitarian endeavors have brought him many awards including the Distinguished Vanguard Award for Leadership from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association; induction in the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame; the Cable Television Hall of Fame Award; and the Walter Kaitz Foundation Award for contributing to the cable industry’s diversity efforts. He received the Joseph P. Wharton Award from the University of Pennsylvania, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania, an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Holy Family College, and an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Arcadia University.
He was honored by the Anti-Defamation League of B’Nai B’Rith with
its Americanism Award and by the National Conference of Christians and Jews
with its Brotherhood Award. He has also received Philadelphia’s Edward
Powell Award given to the individual whose efforts most benefit the prosperity
of the city of Philadelphia; the Police Athletic League Award; the Urban League
of Philadelphia’s Whitney M. Young Jr. Award for Leadership, Diversity
and Excellence; Operation Understanding’s Distinguished Community Leadership
Award for improving relations among the diverse people who make up the City
of Philadelphia; the Heroes of Liberty Award; the William Penn Award given
by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; the American Horizon Award
for visionary leadership from the Media Institute in Washington, DC; the Trustees
Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; and (jointly
with his son Brian) the Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award given by the UJA
Federation.
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