Remembering William Norris

William Norris was one of the business leaders who helped put Minnesota on the map. Control Data Corp., the company he founded, was one of the pioneers in the mainframe computer industry and employed 60,000 people in its heyday. Norris died Monday of Parkinson's disease at the age of 95.

Guests

• John Rollwagen: Chairman of PartnerRe, an international re-insurance firm. Rollwagen spent several years at Control Data in the 1960s before becoming chairman and CEO of Cray Research in 1975.
• Fred Zimmerman: Retired professor of engeering and technology management at the University of St. Thomas. He worked for Control Data from 1963-74. Zimmerman held positions at IBM, National Computer and other computer companies before he moved into academia.
• Joe Nathan: Director of the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute's Center for School Change. When he worked for the St. Paul public schools, Nathan worked with Bill Norris on Control Data's educational computing project, PLATO.
• Larry Perlman: CEO of Control Data Corp. from 1990-1999, when he retired. Perlman oversaw the restructuring of CDC.

More from MPR

• William C. Norris, founder of Control Data, dies at 95
  August 21, 2006
• All Things Considered: Former colleague remembers Norris
  August 21, 2006