Nathan Morton (1948-2005)

Nathan Morton liked to boast that he got his first job in retail because of the suit, the pen and the perseverance he brought to an interview with Two Guys Discount Department Stores. Of course, talent had a lot to do with it, too.

Slide Show: Nathan Morton

During a career spanning more than 35 years, Morton helped build CompUSA into the nation's first computer superstore after leading regional and national expansions for other retailers including Target and The Home Depot. He also backed several other innovative IT-related ventures before he died of cancer last December at age 57. His success was spurred by an uncanny knack for knowing what would be successful and convincing others of the same, former colleagues say.

"He was a visionary. The only way I can explain it is that he could see [something] and see where it came from and where it was going to go. I could only see whatever was in front of me," says Ahmed Shaikh, a longtime friend of Morton's and executive vice president of Remote Light, the Dallas-based company where Morton was president and COO until his death.

As chairman and CEO of CompUSA, Morton led the company's ascension from two stores and $60 million in sales as SoftWarehouse to its standing as a multibillion-dollar national retailer in less than five years. Before that, he helped Home Depot grow from 21 stores and $400 million in sales to more than 100 stores and $2 billion in sales as senior vice president of operations; and he led Target's entre into the California market.

The fact that Morton headed CompUSA and several technology companies bemuses Shaikh. "This is a guy who didn't even want to touch a computer when we worked at Target," he says.

Morton wasn't highly technical, but nobody knew how to sell technology like he did, Shaikh says. "He knew before anybody that the need was there for a computer superstore. When he started talking about $100 million in revenue, I thought he had lost his marbles. But he knew it could be done and how it could be done."

Morton's rise at CompUSA came at an opportune time, says Jeff Matthews, general partner of Ram Partners, a Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund. Microsoft Windows 3.0 was new, opening up the world of personal computing to millions of new customers. His background enabled him to unite the disparate worlds of retail and computing, Matthews says.

"He immediately saw that what worked for Home Depot could work in the computer business. The Home Depot model was, 'We'll help you do it.' He figured out how to apply that to this business."

For example, Matthews says, the first CompUSA stores featured training centers where customers could learn more about these mysterious PCs. "It seems a little silly now, because you open a computer, plug it in and play. But back then they were pretty complicated. Nathan helped uncomplicate them. He really helped turn them into a superstore model business," he says.

"He always seemed to be right in the center of things that were destined to change American industry," says Michael Gorton, founder, chairman and CEO of TelaDoc, a Dallas-based medical services consulting company where Morton was a board member. "From Target to Home Depot to CompUSA—there are three very different entities, and all of them revolutionized their segment of retail."