William Francis Gorog

West Point, 1949

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Terry Powers on December 28, 2022:

Technology Pioneer William F. Gorog Dies William F. Gorog, 76, a technology entrepreneur who played key roles in the development of the LexisNexis computerized information systems and telephone credit-card authorization systems, died of lung cancer July 14 at Inova Fairfax Hospital. At his death, Mr. Gorog was chairman of InteliData Technologies Corp., which pioneered electronic banking and bill-paying systems. He founded the company in 1990 as US Order. It was sold in 1994 to Visa International. Mr. Gorog retained the title of chairman. He also was an economic adviser at the White House during the Ford administration and was a former president of Magazine Publishers of America. Mr. Gorog, a resident of McLean, was born in Warren, Ohio. He served in the Army during World War II and in 1949 graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After Army service during the Korean War, he settled in the Washington area and was co-founder of Data Corp., a high-technology research-and-development company. He was chairman and chief executive of the company, and in the 1960s he presided over the development of a full-text retrieval system for the massive amounts of data being stored in computer systems of that period. This eventually became the LexisNexis computerized law and news information systems now used by thousands of law firms, courts, federal agencies and businesses across the United States. The company also worked with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and developed the photo-optics systems for the Apollo moon missions. The company merged in 1969 with Mead Corp., but Mr. Gorog remained chairman of its Data Corp. subsidiary. He joined the Ford administration in 1975 as deputy director of the President's Economic Policy Board. In 1976, he became executive director of the Council on International Economic Policy. When President Gerald R. Ford left office in 1977, Mr. Gorog established a trading company that specialized in the export of U.S. computer products to the Far East. From 1983 to 1987, he was president of Magazine Publishers of America, whose members included such organizations as Time Inc., Conde Nast and Hearst. In 1987, he became chairman and chief executive of Arbor International, a company that specialized in financing energy, high-technology and real estate ventures. In this role, he was instrumental in the financing and marketing of the VeriFone credit-card authorization system, and he was a director of VeriFone. While at Arbor International, he began working on the electronic banking and bill-paying operation that in 1990 became InteliData Technologies. In 1996, Mr. Gorog was named Nasdaq's entrepreneur of the year. He was a member of St. Luke's Catholic Church in McLean and the Knights of Malta, a lay order of the Catholic Church. Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Gretchen Meister Gorog of McLean; six children, Robin Gorog of Colorado, Jonathan Gorog of Virginia Beach, Christopher Gorog of California, Lesley Gorog Harris and Jennifer Gorog Nichols, both of McLean, and Peter Gorog of Oakton; and 21 grandchildren. William Gorog was chairman of InteliData Technologies Corp., a leader in development of electronic banking and bill-paying systems. Washington Post 2002/07/16

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