Cliff Stanford probably stood in relation to home IT in this country as Herbert Austin and William Morris did to popular motoring Before Tim Berners-Lee gave the world the tools to create the World Wide Web, access to the Internet was via text and, outside the military, largely the preserve of universities and corporations. Stanford was the first to popularise it in the UK. It is not quite true to say that his recent passing was not marked at all. This obituary in a specialist organ tells the story of Stanford's entrepreneurship. It concludes:
It is thanks to Stanford that so much of the UK got online early. He sold connectivity through dial-up modems when no one else thought consumers would be interested. Many of those who worked at Demon Internet have gone on to be very senior in telcos, infrastructure, and web giants today.
If what you achieve is about what you leave behind, Stanford was much more than just an entrepreneur.
Stanford died on 24 February at his home in Estonia. He is survived by his partner Sylvia, his son Tony, and his sister Roz.
It must be significant that he made his last home in the most digital-data-driven European nation in or out of the EU.
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