Dr. Lawrence Roberts, who pioneered the use of packet switching in the ARPANET and the X.25 protocol, passed away on December 26 at his home in Redwood City, California, of a heart attack. He was 81.
In later years, Roberts led a number of business ventures including Telenet (packet switching, sold to GTE), DHL Corporation (global delivery and logistics), NetExpress (Asynchronous Transfer Mode equipment), ATM Systems, Caspian Networks (switch routers), Anagran (IP flow management), and Netmax.
Obituaries:
Computer History Museum: http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/2017-chm-fellow-lawrence-g-roberts/
The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/obituaries/lawrence-g-roberts-dies-at-81.html