Will Daniel, cable television pioneer and founder of Wilco Electronics, dies at 86

Will Daniel, 86, of Ambler, the owner of Wilco Electronic Systems Inc. and a pioneer in establishing cable television in Philadelphia, died Sunday, April 18, at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health, surrounded by family.

His family said he had been actively working until a few weeks ago.

Mr. Daniel began Wilco, an African American private cable company, in May 1977.

In 1980, Home Box Office, the leading pay-television service, granted Wilco a franchise to market its programming to multi-dwelling buildings. This was the first time HBO had granted a franchise to a minority-owned company in the eastern United States, Wilco said in a news release on Mr. Daniel’s death.

In the Wilco statement, David Cohen, former senior executive vice president of Comcast, who now serves as a senior adviser to Comcast Corp., described Mr. Daniel as a “Philadelphia icon.”

“He was a visionary businessperson who never lost sight of the community from which he came. He was a real partner to Comcast, helping our company to expand in Philadelphia and to take root in the African American community. His advice was always prescient. His friends at Comcast will miss him but more importantly, all of us in Philadelphia will miss his leadership and commitment to making lives better.”

Before starting his own company, Mr. Daniel had worked for Marco Video Systems Inc. for 19 years. It was at Marco that he began designing and building cable systems.

Because of his early experience with cable, Mr. Daniel worked with the administration of former Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr. in the early 1980s to develop Philadelphia’s cable franchising process, where cable companies had to bid to provide service in four areas of the city.

He was a partner and minority owner with the Rollins Cablevision franchise, and later received equity when Rollins was sold to Comcast Cablevision.

After the Rollins sale, Mr. Daniel began a 40-year friendship with Ralph J. Roberts, founder of Comcast. Because of that relationship, Wilco and Comcast created a partnership model where low-cost cable services were made available to underserved and low-income communities in Philadelphia.

In 2001, Wilco became the exclusive provider of cable television services for the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the company said.

In January 2018, Comcast acquired Wilco’s cable assets and invested in significant upgrades to Wilco’s infrastructure at PHA sites. Comcast now provides residents with access to Comcast Xfinity products, including Internet Essentials, its internet service for low-income families.

Wilco is now focused on installing low-voltage wiring and design for access control systems necessary for the concept of “smart homes.”

“We have pivoted our business to the foundation of what my father started,” said Brigitte Daniel-Corbin, CEO and president of Wilco.

But the wiring the company is installing today is for new technologies, where physical objects are embedded with sensors and software, so that lighting systems, security cameras, thermostats, and other appliances can be controlled by smart phones.

She said she learned from her father about people and relationships and the importance of cultivating those relationships. She said integrity was a big part of his character. “He always talked about keeping your reputation strong and keeping it high.”

“As a father, I loved him, and he loved me dearly,” Daniel-Corbin said. “I am so honored he instilled so much trust in the legacy of his business in me.”

Will Daniel was born in February 1935 in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., to John and Mary Daniel. He was the ninth of 11 children. Daniel-Corbin said her father gained his work ethic from being part of the family’s farming business.

“What he learned was the importance of hard work,” she said. “You get up early, go work on the farm, and then you go to school. That hard work ethic was what he brought to Philadelphia, and he maintained those skills until his last weeks.”

After completing school, Mr. Daniel served for three years in the Army, where he began learning electronic and communications skills.

Upon leaving the Army in 1955, he returned to North Carolina before moving to Philadelphia the following year, where Mr. Daniel studied electronics at a vocational school and then went to work for Marco Video Systems.

During his early years in Philadelphia, Mr. Daniel married his first wife, Victoria, with whom he had two sons. That marriage ended amicably in a divorce, his daughter said.

About the time he started Wilco, he married his second wife, Virginia Smith, a Philadelphia schoolteacher. The couple had one daughter, Daniel-Corbin. After 25 years, that marriage also ended in an amicable divorce.

About 2006, he married his third wife, Lucille.

Daniel-Corbin said her father maintained friendly relationships with his former wives and often brought all members of his family together for family functions.

For 40 years, Mr. Daniel was an active member of Salem Baptist Church in Jenkintown. He later joined Bethlehem Baptist Church in Spring House.

In addition to his daughter, wife Lucille, and former spouses, Mr. Daniel is survived by sons Darryl and Vance; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren, and other relatives and friends.

People may pay their respects to Mr. Daniel from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 29, at Bethlehem Baptist Church, 712 Penllyn Pike, Spring House..

A funeral service will be livestreamed on Friday, April 30, starting at 9 a.m., at bbc4christ.org and bbandhodges.com. The actual service will begin at 11 a.m.