Richard W. Loftus, Esq. C-SPAN 1986

Richard W. Loftus, Esq. (December 23, 1938 – January 1, 2015) was an attorney, businessman, and pioneer in the cable television industry whose ground-up experience and entrepreneurial vision helped shape the early growth of modern cable systems in the United States.

A native Washingtonian and the son of Irish immigrants, Harold Loftus, a taxi driver, and Marie C. Keough, a nurse, Richard Loftus was famously born in the back of his father’s taxi cab. Raised in poverty and put to work at the age of eight, Loftus endured an extraordinarily difficult childhood. Despite these hardships, he excelled academically and earned the distinction of Eagle Scout.

Loftus graduated with high honors from Gonzaga College High School at just sixteen years of age. Tragically, in the summer of 1960 after finishing high school, he lost both of his parents. They were laid to rest in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Ivy City, Washington, D.C.

He went on to earn a degree in journalism from St. Bonaventure University, where he first met Silvia A. Mariani, whom he later married in 1965. After college, Loftus found work climbing towers installing early cable television systems, a new and rapidly developing technology at the time.

Continuing his education, he earned a Master of Business Administration from George Washington University and later received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. While attending Georgetown, Loftus distinguished himself academically and worked as a clerk at the D.C. Superior Court, later serving as a Special Assistant to the United States District Attorney for Washington, D.C., David Acheson.

Richard and Silvia Loftus would go on to have three children: Marie Constance Loftus (Mimi), Jerome Peter Loftus (Pete), and Genevieve Adele Loftus (Viva).

In 1966, Loftus became Vice President of Gulf & Western, which had significant investments in the emerging cable television industry. During this time, the family relocated to Marina del Rey, California, where their daughter Mimi had been born in Washington, D.C.

In 1968, Loftus founded AmVideo Corporation, one of the first privately owned cable television companies in the world. That same year, his son Jerome Peter Loftus was born, and the family later settled in Holliston, Massachusetts.

Through AmVideo, Loftus became involved with NASA, and the company provided coaxial cable used in transmission infrastructure connected to the broadcast of the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing, helping deliver one of humanity’s greatest achievements to television audiences around the world.

During this period, Loftus developed a business relationship with Apollo 11 astronaut Colonel Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, who became a shareholder in AmVideo. Aldrin’s global fame helped bring significant attention to the company as its subscriber base expanded to more than 34,000 customers.

In 1976, the Loftus family relocated to Solomons Island, Maryland, while Richard expanded AmVideo systems in Lexington Park, Annapolis, Quantico, Virginia, and Prince Frederick County.

In 1978, Loftus sold AmVideo to Prime Cable Company. In recognition of his leadership in the rapidly emerging cable television industry, he received the prestigious Vanguard Award for Young Leadership.

That same year, the family returned to New England, settling in Medway, Massachusetts. During this time, Loftus met a young entrepreneurial teenager named Gregory J. Casten, who went to work for him as a protégé and later became a successful Washington, D.C. seafood industry entrepreneur. Casten would go on to build OceanPro Industries/Profish and Fish & Fire Food Group, which developed well-known restaurants including Tony & Joe’s Seafood Place, Riverside Grill, Boss Shepherd’s, Ivy City Smokehouse, The Pointe Fish House, and The Strand.

Loftus later served as a Director of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and became a well-known spokesperson for the industry, frequently acting as Master of Ceremonies at major cable television conventions in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Boston. He was also among the early recipients of the CableACE Award.

In the early 1980s, Loftus served as President of Scripps-Howard Cable Company and later worked as a consultant overseeing the launch of New England Sports Network (NESN), the regional cable network broadcasting Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins games.

In 1986, Loftus founded Trident Communications Group, expanding into the emerging pay-per-view television market using fiber-optic technology that allowed expanded channel selection and early on-demand programming.

Outside the cable industry, Loftus invested in several ventures, including Kurzweil Music Systems, whose technology achieved major commercial success. He also pursued business opportunities after relocating to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, though many of these ventures were disrupted by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

After twenty-six years of marriage, Loftus and his wife Silvia divorced, a deeply personal loss from which he struggled to recover.

Later in his career, Loftus joined cable industry pioneer Robert Brooks, serving as General Counsel for Brooks Telecommunications, which also owned Brooks Fiber Properties, a company developing integrated telecommunications infrastructure combining internet, cellular, and cable services. Brooks Telecommunications became one of the most widely traded stocks of the 1990s before being acquired by WorldCom in 1994, marking a final chapter in Loftus’s long career in telecommunications.

Richard W. Loftus eventually retired to Lake Lure, North Carolina. His contributions to the cable television industry are preserved in the archives of the National Cable Television Museum, and he established a scholarship fund at Gonzaga College High School.

He passed away at the age of 77 on January 1, 2015.