Gordon Matthews (July 26, 1936 – February 23, 2002) was an American inventor and businessman and started one of the first companies which pioneered the commercialization of voicemail.
After graduating from the University of Tulsa in 1959, with a bachelor's degree in engineering physics, Matthews joined the U.S. Marine Corps as an aviator.
A fellow friend and pilot perished in a mid-air collision, which Matthews believed was caused when he momentarily took his eyes off of his plane's controls to adjust his radio frequency.
After he was discharged from the military, Matthews went to work for IBM to help develop voice-activated cockpit controls which would help lessen similar types of catastrophic errors in the future.
Matthews later changed the name of his company to VMX Inc.[a] He eventually developed a 3,000-user voice messaging system called the VMX/64.
In general, executives loved the voice mail systems, however time revealed some downsides: In 1988, when VMX was on the verge of bankruptcy, it was acquired by Opcom, a designer and seller of computer software products for handling telephone calls.
[4] Opcom was acquired in 1994 by Octel Communications, the largest provider of voice mail equipment and services in the world.