Jose Alonzo “Lon” Rosado, the founder of Great Lakes Data Systems who was elected into the Cable TV Pioneers in 2006, died on Dec. 18 after suffering a heart attack at the family’s vacation home in Yuma, Ariz. He was 70.
A "cable guy" to the core, Lon Rosado started his career with Warner Communications in the 1970s, and later owned and operated several franchised cable systems in Wisconsin. He founded cable billing leader GLDS in 1980 and loved the company, its employees and its customers, according to family, friends and co-workers. He was respected by those who worked alongside him, many of whom he worked with for decades.
Lon Rosado began his cable career as an installer in the sweltering heat of El Centro, Calif., in 1963, according to his wife, Laura. He quickly discovered it was more fun to franchise, engineer and build systems than to lay cable, and he went on to work in management for companies like Continental Cable, Time Warner and Total TV. He built and franchised systems all across the Midwest, settling in Beaver Dam, Wisc., and serving as president of the Wisconsin Cable Association.
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