Long time cable executive Jerry Lindauer, 75, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and one of the founders of Prime Cable, died last week according to a report in the Austin American-Statesman.
A memorial service will be held Thursday (Jan. 26) at 12:30 p.m. at St. John's Neumann Catholic Church, 5455 Bee Caves Road, Austin, Texas. Services are being handled by Weed-Corely-Fish Funeral Home in Austin.
The cause of death was unknown, but Lindauer's family told the paper that he took his own life after years of chronic back pain. According to the American-Statesman, Lindauer's wife Becky said he left the family's home in Austin on Jan. 20 and did not return. She said his body was found in Lake Austin on Jan. 21, according to the paper. Austin police said a body was recovered from Lake Austin on Saturday but did not identify it, the American-Statesman reported.
Lindauer was a company commander with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam and received two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart for his service. After a 20-year career in the service, Lindauer was a military instructor at the University of Texas, received a law degree from the university in 1973, and later worked for the U.S. Secretary of Defense office under James Schlesinger and Donald Rumsfeld.
In 1977 Lindauer joined Communications Properties Inc., a Texas cable operation founded by Bob Hughes and Jack Crosby. He later became a principal and partner in Prime Cable and formed @Security Broadband, an Austin company that offered home security service over the cable network, in 1999. Lindauer was an active member of the National Cable & Telecommunications board of directors for two decades, serving as its chairman from 1990 to 1991.
"Jerry Lindauer was a true cable pioneer who demonstrated great leadership -- both personally and through the companies he led -- at a critical time when our industry was coming of age," said Michael Powell, President & CEO, NCTA in a statement. "We are grateful for the contributions he made and for helping to chart so effectively the course into the future, today's vibrant broadband market place. We offer our deepest condolences to the Lindauer family on their great loss."
Lindauer retired in 2006. He is survived by his wife of 23 years Becky, two children and six grandchildren.
