William Norris, 95; Founder of Computer Firm Control Data Corp.

William Norris, who founded Control Data Corp. and helped put Minnesota on the high-tech map during the last half of the 20th century, has died. He was 95.

Norris died Monday in a Bloomington nursing home after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, said his son Roger.

“His mind was always very, very clear up to the end,” his son said. “His body just gave out before his mind did.”

Norris co-founded Engineering Research Associates in St. Paul in 1946. The company was sold a few years later and ultimately became part of Sperry Rand’s Univac division, which Norris ran in the mid-1950s, building Univac “electronic brains.”

Norris left Univac in 1957 and co-founded Control Data. Within three years, his company was building the most powerful computer in the world, the 1604.

Control Data grew rapidly in the 1960s, propelled by supercomputers designed by Seymour Cray. Norris diversified the firm into computer peripherals, including printers and disk drives, and data processing services.

By 1969, Control Data had 45,000 employees and $1 billion in annual revenue. From 1976 to 1980, revenue grew from $2.1 billion to $3.8 billion; it peaked at $5 billion in 1984.

Norris retired in 1986 as the world was evolving away from mainframe computers. CDC’s workforce plunged from 60,000 in 1984 to 17,000 in 1989, and the company was split in two in 1992. The name has since disappeared.

Born in Inavale, Neb., Norris tinkered with ham radios while growing up on a farm. He graduated from the University of Nebraska, where he studied electrical engineering.

As head of Control Data, he supported social initiatives, opening plants in areas of high unemployment. He also launched an early project to use computers in education.

In its obituary Tuesday, the St. Paul Pioneer Press said Norris was an unassuming man who drove the same Oldsmobile to work for 15 years and walked up 15 flights of stairs to his office each day.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife, Jane; seven other children; 21 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.