Ross D. Rash, the founder of Comten, formerly known as Comcet, passed away last week aged 94.

Rash was a founding group member of the mainframe computer manufacturer.

Founded in 1972, the company developed, manufactured, designed, and serviced data communications equipment and mainframe computers.

In 1979, Comten was acquired by US software and technology firm NCR Corporation in a transaction valued at about $125 million ($538m today).

Rash was known to enjoy tinkering with radios, televisions, and computers, having graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska.

After having lived in Arizona, Minnesota, and Minneapolis throughout his career, he moved with his wife Glennie to Udall, Kansas, to be closer to his daughter and granddaughter.

NCR Comten’s operations were streamlined in the nineties to communications processors, including its 3600 series, and the company also withdrew from the private X.25 network equipment market.

AT&T acquired NCR in 1991 and the microelectronics division was sold to Hyundai Electronics (now SK Hynix) in 1995. NCR Comten was dissolved shortly after in 2001.

NCR, founded as National Cash Register, lives on today at NCR Voyix.