Andrew F. Kay (January 22, 1919 – August 28, 2014) was a businessman and innovator. He was President and CEO of Kaypro, a personal computer company, which at one time was the world's fourth largest manufacturer of computers, and the largest in the world in sales of portable computers.[2]
Kay, a 1940 graduate of MIT, started his career with Bendix followed by two years at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In 1952, Kay founded Non-Linear Systems, a manufacturer of digital instrumentation. NLS developed a reputation for providing rugged durability in critical applications for everything from submarines to spacecraft. At NLS he invented the digital voltmeter, in 1952. [3]
He founded Kaypro Corporation in 1982, which sold computers.[3] In 1985, it had more than $120 million in revenue, dwarfing what had been its parent, NLS. But the company's success was relatively short-lived; in 1990 it filed for Chapter 11bankruptcy protection, and it was liquidated in 1992.[2]
In the late 1990s, Kay founded Kay Computers, which similarly manufactured and sold personal computers. The company lasted for less than ten years.
Kay later was a Senior Business Advisor to Accelerated Composites, LLC. [citation needed]
^ abTech Street: Kaypro Hunkers Down By John Gantz, InfoWorld, 20 Aug 1984, Page 20, ...Andrew Kay...called his sons, David and Allen, into the business; he got his wife Mary, and father, Frank, to help out too...
