Jack Maguire Dies; Helped Build Continental Telephone

Jack Maguire, who was president of Continental Telephone Co. when it was developing into one of the largest telephone firms in the nation, died Monday in Bakersfield after a three-month illness.

Maguire, 71, entered the industry in 1935 with Kern Mutual Telephone Co. in the Kern County community of Taft, where his father had founded a single-circuit independent company in 1908.

Maguire began buying small telephone companies in 1947 and owned 20 of them by the time he founded Central Western Telephone Co. in the late 1950s. That company merged with Telephone Communications Corp. of Illinois in 1961 to create the forerunner to Continental, now believed the largest telephone holding company outside the Bell system.

Maquire became president of Continental in 1970. He retired because of poor health in 1976 but remained on the board of directors.

The company, which serves mainly rural areas in 37 states, later moved to Atlanta but its West Coast operation remains headquartered in Bakersfield.