Co-Founder of Compaq Will Leave Company
William H. Murto, who co-founded Compaq Computer Corp. in 1982, is leaving the high-flying maker of personal computers to study religion, the company said Tuesday.
“I am now ready to make a move I have been planning for several years,” Murto said in a news release.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. April 9, 1987 PEOPLE NATION
Los Angeles Times Thursday April 9, 1987 Home Edition Business Part 4 Page 3 Column 2 Financial Desk 2 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Column; Correction
An item in Wednesday’s Times based on Associated Press information stated incorrectly that William H. Murto, a departing Compaq Computer Corp. executive, would be studying religious education at the University of Houston. He will, in fact, study at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.
Murto told fellow employees on Monday that he would leave the company April 20 and begin studying for a master’s degree in religious education at the University of Houston this summer, spokesman Jeff Stives said. Murto was not available for comment.
“My feeling, frankly, is he’s doing what we’d all like to do” by stepping off the fast track to pursue a longtime goal, Stives said. “He would have probably done it earlier if he’d had the opportunity to do so.”
Murto, 41, founded Compaq along with Rod Canion, now president and CEO, and James M. Harris, currently vice president-engineering.
Murto will be replaced as vice president-sales, a post he has held since 1985, by Ross A. Cooley, who has been the company’s director of corporate sales since 1985.
Compaq, which makes IBM-compatible personal computers, reached the ranks of the Fortune 500 in three years, faster than any other company. It took Apple Computer Inc. five years to crack the list.
