Ralph J. Roberts, Founder of Comcast Corporation, to Receive Temple's Musser Award for Excellence in Leadership

Ralph J. Roberts, Founder of Comcast Corporation, to Receive Temple's Musser Award for Excellence in Leadership

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Ralph J. Roberts, founder of Comcast Corporation, will receive the 2005 Musser Award for Excellence in Leadership from Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management on Wednesday, November 2. Mr. Roberts will receive the award at the ninth annual Musser Awards Dinner, which will be attended by many in the Greater Philadelphia business community. The dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Great Court in Mitten Hall, at Broad St. near the Berks Mall walkway on Temple's main campus.

The Fox School chose Mr. Roberts for this prestigious award because of his outstanding business success and leadership in the local and national business community as well as his work to create a culture of giving back to the communities that Comcast serves.

Announcing the award, Dean M. Moshe Porat of The Fox School said, "Through his entrepreneurship, his dedication, his deep community involvement and his values, Ralph Roberts represents the best in leadership excellence Philadelphia has to offer.

"For any aspiring entrepreneur, his story offers great inspiration. He bought a small, struggling cable television company and from it, created Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider," Porat added.

Upon being selected, Ralph J. Roberts said, "I am honored to have been chosen as the 2005 Musser Excellence in Leadership Award recipient. Temple University and The Fox School are vital parts of Philadelphia and have a history of teaching young people to become informed, responsible members of society. It is important for the city and its businesses to work together to help our young people become the best they can be."

Mr. Roberts founded Comcast in 1963 with the purchase of a 1,700 subscriber cable service in Tupelo, Mississippi. From those humble beginnings, Comcast has grown into a media giant, with 21.5 million subscribers in 35 states, and has changed America's T.V. viewing habits.

Mr. Roberts has used his many business and professional leadership skills to serve the needs of the Greater Philadelphia community. He currently serves on the boards of the Council of Emeritus Directors of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Brandywine Museum and Conservancy, as well as the Advisory Board of the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition and the Penn Medicine Board of Trustees, University of Pennsylvania Health System. He is also active in his support for Project H.O.M.E., an outreach program for the homeless in Philadelphia founded by Sister Mary Scullion.

Mr. Roberts epitomizes the Musser Award's ethic that exceptional achievement in business and exceptional effort on behalf of the community are compatible, mutually supportive goals. The Musser Award, now in its ninth year, was named to honor its first recipient, Warren V. (Pete) Musser, founder of Safeguard Scientifics and current chairman of the Musser Group, who endowed the award in 1998.

Roberts joins a distinguished list of previous Musser Award recipients that includes, in addition to Musser, James E. Nevels, chairman and CEO of the Swarthmore Group; Dennis Alter, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Advanta; Sidney Kimmel, founder and former chairman of Jones Apparel Group; Willard G. Rouse III, former chairman, CEO and president of Liberty Property Trust; William Avery, retired chairman and CEO of Crown Cork & Seal; Felix Zandman, chairman and CEO of Vishay Intertechnology, Inc; and John C. Bogle, founder and former chairman of The Vanguard Group.

In addition to honoring Mr. Roberts, the Musser dinner will also recognize achievement by members of The Fox School community in teaching, faculty service, administrative service, student leadership and alumni leadership.

Proceeds from the 2005 Musser Excellence in Leadership Awards ceremony support the Dean's Fund for Excellence. The Fund supports programs that add significant value to the learning experience at The Fox School, among them the Dean's Undergraduate Research Scholars Program which leverages The Fox School's international reputation for excellence in teaching and research. This program enables highly motivated and meritorious business honors students to conduct meaningful research throughout their undergraduate career. Mentored by experienced research faculty, these undergraduate research scholars receive annual scholarships to work on research relevant to their career goals. They enjoy unique opportunities to access high-level internships, prepare for advanced work at the graduate level and earn research course credits that will enhance their applications to top graduate schools.

The Dean's Fund for Excellence also supports students in the MBA program, the flagship program at The Fox School. The Fund helps to ensure Fox School graduates continue to distinguish themselves in the greater Philadelphia region and beyond as talented business leaders and as significant contributors to the advancement of knowledge in business disciplines.

The Fox School of Business and Management, at Temple University, is the largest, most comprehensive business school in the Greater Philadelphia region and among the largest in the world, with more than 5,500 students, 150 full- time faculty and 45,000 alumni. Recently, The Fox School's MBA program was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for "Value for Money" by Financial Times, which also ranked Fox's MBA program as one of the top 50 in the nation and the top 75 in the world. Accredited by AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), The Fox School's programs also are ranked internationally and nationally by leading business publications, including U.S. News & World Report and Entrepreneur magazine. For more information, visit http://www.fox.temple.edu/

Source: Comcast Corporation

CONTACT: Jennifer Fitzgerald, Temple University, +1-215-204-9142, or
jen.fitzgerald@temple.edu

Web site: http://www.comcast.com/
http://www.fox.temple.edu/

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