Randy John Suess was born in Skokie, Illinois, on January 27, 1945. His parents were Miland Suess, a police officer, and Ruth Suess, a nurse. Suess grew up in Skokie and later served in the Navy. He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle.
Suess is best known for co-founding the CBBS, the first bulletin board system. He developed the hardware for CBBS, while Ward Christensen, his partner, created the software. They began work on CBBS during a Chicago blizzard and launched it on February 16, 1978.
Suess’s home in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood hosted CBBS, allowing local access without long-distance fees. The system received over half a million calls before it was retired in the 1980s.
In the 1970s, Suess was also an amateur radio operator with the call sign WB9GPM. He was active in the Chicago FM Club, helping with their radio repeater systems.
Suess and Christensen were awarded the Dvorak Telecommunications Excellence Award in 1992. They were featured in “BBS: The Documentary” in 2005. Suess passed away on December 10, 2019, in Chicago.
