Arrest In Ramsey Case Sparks VAR Reaction

"I was thrilled to see that they finally have someone who appears to be the actual killer," says Karen Franse, a former VARBusiness senior editor, who went on to head communications at the Global Technology Distribution Council. "I think the Ramseys have endured a horrible ordeal over the past decade ... it's bad enough that they lost their daughter, but to be bathed in a cloud of suspicion all this time has certainly had to have taken its toll."

"The news of the past few days literally brought tears to my eyes," Franse adds. "I only wish his wife Patsy had lived to feel the victory of vindication."

At the time of his daughter's death in December 1996, Ramsey was president of Access Graphics, the $1 billion Lockheed subsidiary that would later become GE's Access Distribution.

Ramsey left the company in November 1997 when Lockheed traded Access to GE for $2.8 billion in stock and other assets. Ramsey had just recently moved from Boulder and was in the process of setting up a new worldwide headquarters for Access Graphics in his new home in Atlanta at the time of the sale.

Lockheed spokesman Charles Manor said then that the deal had nothing to do with the JonBenet's death or Ramsey's move to Atlanta.

Since that time, the JonBenet killing has become one of the country's most notorious cold cases. John Ramsey was thrust back into the spotlight Wednesday when police in Bangkok arrested John Mark Karr, a 41-year-old school teacher who claims he was with JonBenet when she died on the day after Christmas in 1996. On Thursday, Karr was being taken to Colorado, where he will face charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and child sexual assault, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In the early days of the investigation, Ramsey was tight-lipped about the details of his daughter's death and granted few interviews, even turning down Barbara Walters. He did speak candidly with VARBusiness, however, during Access Graphic's annual reseller conference in Boulder in July 1997.

"We didn't choose to be a topic of conversation," Ramsey told VARBusiness. "We became a way for the talk shows and the Geraldo Riveras of the world to make a lot of money. We've maintained a very low profile because we're not interested in being entertainment for profit for the news media.

"The loss of JonBenet was really an order of magnitude more difficult [than other personal tragedies] because it was the willful taking by another person of your child," he said. "We're trying to go about our lives, put them back together and focus on who did this. But you really question what life's about and why you should have to endure these things."

But despite those questions, Ramsey professed a desire to get on with business and was in the midst of shifting Access' focus to complex Unix-based systems, introducing JavaStation network computers and rolling out new online access tools for Access customers.

In 1997, Harry Schirer was the controller for Sun Microsystems reseller Solsource Computers, in Carlsbad, Calif. He recalled seeing Ramsey at an Access Graphics golf tournament, telling VARBusiness that "John was standing on one of the holes. That was impressive to me that the president and CEO is standing there for five hours greeting every single person that came by playing golf.

"To be honest, I expected him not to be there. Obviously, he must have said to himself, 'I'm going to put [the tragedy] aside. I need to be there to do my job.'"

"I was really able to get back into the business with probably more resolve than ever to do what I believed was right and necessary," Ramsey said. "I think I've become a better implementer, quicker to action. Frankly, this kind of tragedy really changes a person and makes you evaluate what's important."

Franse, who interviewed Ramsey a number of times during her career at VARBusiness said the former Access exec "struck me as an astute businessman and always seemed to have a solid handle on the way he ran the company.

"I did talk to him personally about the ordeal shortly after it happened [and] he was very forthcoming, likely because I had known him for years in business," Franse added. "He was of course crushed by the incident, but at that time, was still receiving a lot of support from the distribution and vendor communities. I still think of John in the same way I did before...with respect."

Others in the VAR and distribution community who knew Ramsey said they preferred not to comment on the matter. Anna McDermott, president and CEO of Access Distribution, did know the Ramseys, but, through a spokesman, said Thursday she had decided not to comment "out of respect for the family."

Messages left for Mr. Ramsey and his attorney, Lin. L. Wood, were not immediately returned Thursday.