Joseph Segel, a “quintessential entrepreneur” who founded the home-shopping network QVC, has died, the company that owns the channel announced. He was 88.
Segel, whgo was born in Philadelphia, died Saturday in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, due to congestive heart failure, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
He was remembered as an innovator for creating QVC, short for “Quality Value Convenience.” It launched in 1986 and was carried by nearly 60 cable stations. It now reaches 380 million homes throughout the world, according to a press release from Qurate Retail Group.
“He was a visionary whose ideas changed the way the world shops,” said Mike George, CEO of Qurate Retail, Inc., a media company that includes QVC. “He instilled the importance of customer focus and putting the customer first in everything we do. These founding values and Joe’s trailblazing spirit are still very much a part who we are today.”
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Segel retired as chairman of QVC in 1993. He stayed on as a company adviser until 2013.
Segel founded QVC as an alternate to the Home Shopping Network (HSN), the Reuters news service points out. Qurate bought HSN in late 2017 for $2.1 billion in an effort to better compete against Amazon and other e-commerce sites.
Segel’s entrepreneurial streak wasn’t limited to QVC. He founded more than 20 companies over a five-decade career, notes CBS Philadelphia.
Among them was The Franklin Mint, a private mint company that produces commemorative coins and other collectibles. It’s owned now by Sequential Brands Group.
Segel started his first business at age 12 and ran four before graduating college, the Inquirer noted.
His son Alan told the newspaper, “He was universally admired and respected in every industry he touched. He only left a trail of happiness, wealth and success for others. That’s his legacy.”
