His death was confirmed by Jeff Wickham, a son-in-law, who declined to disclose the cause.
Mr. Opel (pronounced OH-pel) joined I.B.M. as a salesman in 1949, as the computer age was just dawning, and served as the company’s chief executive from January 1981 until January 1985.
A year after he took the top post, the Department of Justice dropped its 13-year-old antitrust lawsuit against I.B.M., freeing the company to compete more aggressively.
Compete it did. Revenue nearly doubled during Mr. Opel’s tenure, to the point that by the end of it, competitors were publicly complaining that I.B.M. was too powerful. In 1983, Time magazine featured Mr. Opel on its cover with the headline “The Colossus That Works.”
But things changed soon after Mr. Opel left office. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, I.B.M. went through a painful period of cutbacks as the computer business underwent huge changes. Small computers based on microprocessors and using standardized software increasingly took over from centralized machines using proprietary hardware and software, I.B.M.’s stock in trade.
I.B.M. itself helped spur the shift when it introduced its first personal computer in 1981, a project started under the previous chief executive, Frank T. Cary, but completed by Mr. Opel.
I.B.M. did not design everything itself. In an effort to make an inexpensive machine that could get to market quickly, it used a microprocessor from Intel and operating system software from Microsoft.
The machine was a hit, making desktop computing acceptable to corporate America and becoming the industry standard.
But competitors realized they could essentially make copies of the machine using Intel chips and Microsoft software. The power in the computer industry shifted to Intel and Microsoft, and hardware became a low-price commodity. I.B.M. eventually sold its PC business and some other hardware operations, and now focuses on software and services.
John Roberts Opel was born on Jan 5, 1925, in Kansas City, Mo., and grew up in Jefferson City, Mo., where his father ran a hardware store. He majored in English at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., fought in the Philippines and in Okinawa in World War II and earned a master’s of business administration degree from the University of Chicago in 1949.
Mr. Opel then weighed two job offers — one to rewrite economics textbooks and the other to take over his father’s hardware business, according to an appreciation of Mr. Opel that I.B.M. posted on its Web site.
To mull things over, he took a fishing trip with his father and a family friend. The friend happened to work for I.B.M., and he offered Mr. Opel a job as a salesman in central Missouri. At the time, in 1949, I.B.M. was selling electric typewriters and accounting equipment and just starting to introduce electronic calculating machines.
In 1959, Mr. Opel became an executive assistant to Thomas J. Watson Jr., the company’s chief executive. He rose rapidly, taking positions in manufacturing and public relations, among other departments. He managed the introduction of the seminal System 360 mainframe computer in 1964.
Mr. Opel was often viewed as the quintessential I.B.M. man, adhering to the company’s deep traditions with his emphasis on the customer and impeccable dress and a certain reticence with outsiders.
“He was a very client-centric, client-focused person,” said Nicholas M. Donofrio, a former executive vice president at the company. “He would constantly remind us of that.”
But I.B.M. also began departing from tradition under Mr. Opel. In addition to introducing a personal computer, the company moved into telecommunications, in part through the acquisition of the equipment maker Rolm. It acquired a stake in Intel, mainly to shore up Intel against Japanese competition. And it revamped its own manufacturing to allow it to compete better against the Japanese.
Time magazine’s article in 1983 quoted an I.B.M. board member as describing Mr. Opel as “plain vanilla, but good plain vanilla.” He rarely granted interviews or spoke about his private life.
But insiders said he was thoughtful and well read. “He was as much at home in bird watching and poetry as he was in managing the boardroom,” said Patrick A. Toole, a former senior vice president.
After stepping down as I.B.M.’s chief executive, Mr. Opel remained chairman until May 1986 and a board member until 1993.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Carole; five children, Robert, Julie Conlee, John E., Nancy Wickham and Mary Porteus; and 15 grandchildren.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=a5c09768abe1d08a5b32c2473efa3b81
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