- Great American Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century
William C. Norris
Control Data Corporation
1957 - 1986
Computers & Electronics
| Military Service | Navy |
|---|
b. 1911
| Education |  |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate | University of Nebraska |
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Born-Died | 1911 |
| Birthplace | Nebraska (NE) |
| Race | White |
| Father | Farmer / Rancher |
An electrical engineer by trade, Norris pioneered Control Data Corporation (CDC) into a leading mainframe computer maker, giving IBM heavy competition during the 1970s and 1980s. Norris was also a great philanthropist, building CDC factories in depressed neighborhoods and founding two venture firms to invest in rural farms and urban slums.