Bob Magness; Founder of Tele-Communications Cable Firm

Bob John Magness, 72, founder and chairman of Tele-Communications Inc., one of the nation’s largest cable companies. A native of Clinton, Okla., Magness began his fledgling cable business in 1956 in Memphis, Texas, selling his cattle and mortgaging his ranch to fund it. He ran the operation out of his kitchen and personally climbed poles to string wire. Two years later, he started a microwave system to carry television signals from Salt Lake City to Montana. The cable and microwave companies were merged in 1968 to form the present company, which is based in Englewood, Colo. The company grew to serve 14 million subscribers, but lately has been losing customers to satellite systems. On Friday in Englewood of cancer.