This week in North Cook County history.
CBBS co-founder born in Skokie, Illinois, on January 27, 1945
Randy John Suess, born in Skokie, Illinois, on January 27, 1945, co-founded the CBBS, the first bulletin board system (BBS), with Ward Christensen. This system was established on February 16, 1978, and received over half a million calls before its retirement in the 1980s. Suess designed the hardware for CBBS while Christensen developed the software. Suess also hosted CBBS from his home in Chicago, allowing local access without long-distance charges. Suess was an amateur radio operator and a member of the Chicago FM Club. He and Christensen were honored with the Dvorak Telecommunications Excellence Award in 1992. Suess passed away on December 10, 2019, in Chicago.
