The Satellite TV Industry
Remembers Taylor Howard
Please see our stories:
A Void in the Sky: Industry Mourns Taylor Howard (11/14)
Satellite TV Remembers Taylor Howard (11/15)
Still a Shining Star: Howard's Memorial Service (12/13)

I am deeply saddened and shocked over Taylor's passing. Over the past 15 years, he's been both a mentor and a friend, always providing guidance and support without ever having to ask.

He was one of the smartest and wisest men I've ever known ... spanning so many subjects with life experiences to serve as examples. Listening to him oftentimes left me mesmerized and fascinated. Yet, in spite of his enormous presence and intellect, his demeanor was always warm and gentle.

It was an honor and privilege to have known him as a friend, and to have worked with him both as a leader in the industry and with the Foundation. I will never forget him and the profound impact he's had on my life. I am deeply committed to honor his memory through the work of the Foundation, an endeavor he cared very much about and whose very existence is reflective of the man he was.

Scott Weiss, Founding Chairman, T. Howard Foundation

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Taylor was deeply committed to ensuring that the inner workings of the satellite industry are as diverse in its racial and gender make-up as the customers it serves. Taylor’s strong character was demonstrated in his commitment to the Foundation and especially to our interns whom he met personally at Foundation events.

T. Howard Foundation Executive Director Cynthia Dinkins

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We are shocked and saddened at the loss of Taylor Howard. Taylor was the father of the satellite television industry. He was a founding member of this association, a leader, a visionary and a true friend. All of the members and staff of the SBCA extend our deepest sympathies to his family.

Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association President Andy Wright

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Taylor was a pioneer in bringing satellite TV to all corners of the world. He was an innovator and an active leader in the satellite television industry for decades. Taylor had a tremendous impact on the satellite community and gave back to it through the T. Howard Foundation and other endeavors. We express our heartfelt sympathies to his family.

Eddy Hartenstein, chairman, SBCA board of directors, and Chairman at DirecTV

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John Harvey, my husband, and I loved Taylor. He was a great friend to us and our company PMC. Most importantly he was a great guy. He was so smart, so competent in many, many situations, and just plain fun. Even my children, who met him many times, are sad and have said they miss him too.

Kazie Metzger, PMC

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Taylor will be remembered as a man who not only was a technical genius, but also a person who cared deeply for the industry which he gave birth to ... from that first dish to his decades of dedication to the SBCA to the T. Howard Foundation which carries on his dream of diversity, Taylor Howard worked to make the dream of satellite TV become a reality for millions of Americans. We have all lost a true friend and leader.

Harry Thibedeau - NRTC

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Taylor was a great guy, friend and teacher to all those who came in contact with him. He had the unusual skill of mentoring, without making you feel he was smarter than you, which in most cases he was. He always was thoughtful and respectful of other viewpoints. He was one of kind and will be missed tremendously. My deepest sympathy and prayers go out to his family and all his other friends, this is a tremendous loss for our industry and the world.

Mike Mountford of DSI

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Before I had the honor of meeting Taylor some 12 years ago, I had envisioned him as a true icon as I had heard many story where his name always seemed to pop up. Whether it was a trade show or to the Echosphere's Engineering lab Mr. Howard's conversations often mentioned him.

Then during a two year overseas assignment clients in Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong would even throw his name out and always with respect.

Several years latter I had the opportunity to sit on the same board and I finally saw for myself why this man was truly the man of all these stories of praise. Taylor Howard was a man that I was very proud to say was a friend!

Brad Foreman, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, O'Rourke Sales

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I was fortunate enough to know Taylor as a personal friend, in addition to his being a professional colleague. I only wish that every last person in the industry could have been that fortunate as well. Always a kind word, a great cheerleader, selfless, a people builder - that's how I would describe him. The words "loss" and "void" don't even come close to describing where we are without him.

Andy Paul, formerly with the SBCA

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I am shocked and deeply saddened by news of the tragic loss of Taylor Howard.

The telco industry had Alexander Graham Bell, and our industry had my dear friend Tay Howard. Most folks as distinguished and respected as Tay are all but inaccessible to the rank and file of an industry, however not so in our industry. Taylor was always accessible and loved mingling with the industry rank and file. He loved to exchange stories of tinkering and fiddling with the early and current technology.

His friendship, wisdom and counsel will be sorely missed by this retailer, and I am sure by all of our industry. I feel honored to have known this fine gentlemen.

We may all take comfort in knowing that Taylor is probably already tuning up the TV system at his current quarters for all of us to enjoy when we join him.

May God Bless Tay and his family real good during this difficult time.

Warm Regards - Buddy Davis - Davis Antenna Inc

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Taylor Howard will certainly be missed as a visionary leader and a compassionate humanitarian. He made his mark not only as the father of satellite television in the United States, but also as the driving force behind the T. Howard Foundation, which was borne out of his understanding that diversity is the key to growth in the satellite industry.

Bob Phillips. President and CEO, National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative

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EchoStar is saddened to learn about the loss of Taylor Howard, a man who is considered by many of us to be the father of the satellite industry and a mentor to those of us who followed in his footsteps.

He paved the way. The satellite TV industry wouldn't be where it is today without his vision and his very generous personal contributions over the years. Every dish we install will be a constant reminder of his continued legacy. All of us at EchoStar send our deepest sympathies to his family.

EchoStar Corporate Statement

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Tay Howard was an extraordinary man.

He was a man of great intellectual vigor and curiosity. As a long time member of the Electrical Engineering faculty at Stanford, he was a successful and respected academic. His intellectual curiosity led him to invent the first home earth station and satellite receiver in 1976.

But he was not merely a successful academic. He was also a man of entrepreneurial vigor. Not satisfied with having invented the first satellite receiver, he was also the first to commercialize his invention through the creation of Chaparral Communications. Through his entrepreneurship, he quite literally created the direct-to-home satellite industry.

But he was also not merely a successful academic and entrepreneur. He was also a man who believed in the importance of a commitment to the collective benefit. He was a founder of SPACE, the nascent direct to home satellite industry’s first trade association and the direct predecessor to today’s SBCA. He was also a prime mover in the establishment of the T. Howard Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to the creation of opportunity for minorities in the DTH industry.

In short, Tay was an American in the truest and best sense of the word. He was an individual who believed fervently that we live in a world of opportunity and that the pursuit of one’s self-interest is a worthy ideal IF it also elevates the lives of those who you serve.

By this standard, his life was a towering American success story. That success is manifest in the living legacy he has left all of us – whether we are among the tens of thousands in this country who are now gainfully employed in the direct to home satellite industry or among the hundreds of millions of households around the world who today receive their TV programming direct via satellite.

His vision of self-interest that elevates all stands in unfortunate contrast to a current generation of leaders in our industry who appear inspired by the smaller vision of self-interest as a zero sum proposition.

In so many ways, it is a very sad day for the satellite world.

Mark Pagon, Pegasus CEO, comments taken during the company's 3Q conference call

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I will truly miss him. He had the very human quality of not using his brilliance and experience to prove he was better than others. He was a pleasure. I will always fondly remember his kindness and humor. My thoughts are with his family in dealing with this tragic loss.

Frank Baylin, Boulder, Colorado

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As a former member of the SBCA, I was privileged to serve on its board as Vice Chairman in 1989. There I met and worked with Taylor. Rarely do you get to meet a man who so clearly could envision the future and meld it to the present. And rarely are you in the presence of a man with Taylor's intellect, generorsity of spirit, and sheer energy. The experience makes you a better person.

Bill Berman, Vice President, Media Strategies, SES Americom

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When programmers began scrambling satellite signals in 1976 and simultaneously evaluating the merits of serving the home satellite dish market, Taylor Howard and Chuck Hewitt were two of the most rational "players" around...Taylor made the technology happen, but it was the two of them who made the market appear to be a feasible business!!!

Other pioneers, highly visible and actively leading the charge at that time, people like Bob Cooper, Chuck Dawson, Shawn Kenny, Paul Burke, etc., were quite outspoken and made programmers question the viability of doing business with such "radical" personalities! Some of the others like Charlie Ergen, Mike Mountford, Mike Schroeder and Dave Robinson made it appear legitimate, but Taylor and Chuck were the real voices of "calm" in an otherwise tempestuous storm!!!

Bob Sherman was there; he can tell you. Programmers such as Bob Caird (HBO), Steve Schulte and Tola Murphy-Baran (Showtime), Marty Lafferty (Turner Broadcasting) and others scrambling their signals would probably have never begun serving the market when they did if Taylor and Chuck were not there to give credibility to what had been a "backyard business."

Many will mourn Taylor's passing, but none more than those of us who watched the market that he envisioned grow under his watchful eye. I was always happy to see him and proud to shake his hand. It has been a long time since I enjoyed his company and I will now have to cherish the memories of our past even more dearly.

Cecil W. "Jack" Riley - (A guy who believed in the Home Satellite Dish Industry, who trusted Taylor and Chuck and was never disappointed, and a true admirer who will miss a GREAT MAN who made our great industry possible...and so enjoyable!!!)