This week in North Cook County history: A noteworthy event that shaped our past (Dec. 8-14)

Randy Suess, co-founder of the CBBS bulletin board | The New York Times || Jason Scott

By North Cook News

Dec 8, 2024

This week in North Cook County history.

Randy John Suess Passed Away on December 10, 2019

Randy John Suess, born in Skokie, Illinois, on January 27, 1945, died on December 10, 2019, in Chicago. He co-founded CBBS, the first online bulletin board system, with Ward Christensen. Suess and Christensen developed CBBS during a Chicago blizzard, launching it on February 16, 1978. Suess built the hardware for the system and hosted it from his Chicago home. By the time CBBS was retired in the 1980s, it had handled over half a million calls. Suess also worked as an amateur radio operator and was involved with the Chicago FM Club. In 1992, he and Christensen received the Dvorak Telecommunications Excellence Award for their BBS innovation. Their work was featured in the 2005 documentary BBS: The Documentary.

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