Robert Theron Brockman (May 28, 1941 – August 5, 2022) was an American billionaire businessman and once

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

-based Reynolds & Reynolds software company.

Early life and education

Brockman was born in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

. His father Alfred Eugene Brockman was a gas-station owner, and his mother, Pearl, was a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

. Thomas David Brockman was his brother. Brockman briefly attended

Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micr ...

. He later graduated ''summa cum laude'' from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in 1963, and was a member of its business honor society.

Career

Brockman started his career in 1964 as a marketing trainee with

Ford Motors Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobil ...

, and was a Marine Corps reservist at the same time. From 1966 to 1970, he worked at

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

and was the leading U.S. salesman in IBM's service bureau. Brockman founded Universal Computer Systems, a computer systems and software provider for car dealerships, in 1970 in his living room. The company sold its first in-dealership computer system in 1982. In the late 1980s, Brockman introduced what remains one of his core software operating systems, called Power. The company merged with Reynolds & Reynolds on August 8, 2006. He became the CEO after the merger.

Tax fraud charges

On September 5, 2018, IRS agents and Bermudan police executed a search warrant for a raid in Bermuda on the home office of Evatt Tamine ("Tamine"), a lawyer who worked closely with Brockman for 14 years and who, according to the Government, helped Brockman illegally conceal assets offshore. A 39-count indictment was filed against Brockman in September 2020 in the

Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

. Brockman was accused of engaging in a 20-year long scheme to hide around $2 billion in income from the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

. His charges included tax evasion,

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

, and failure to disclose assets held overseas. Brockman pleaded not guilty, and was released on a $1 million bond. In October 2021, Brockman was among those listed in the

Pandora Papers The Pandora Papers are 11.9 million leaked documents with 2.9 terabytes of data that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published beginning on 3 October 2021. The leak exposed the secret offshore accounts of 35 ...

revelations, which exposed offshore

tax shelter Tax shelters are any method of reducing taxable income resulting in a reduction of the payments to tax collecting entities, including state and federal governments. The methodology can vary depending on local and international tax laws. Types of ...

s of the financial assets of hundreds of politicians, business people, and celebrities. Brockman was later placed under an IRS assessment targeting taxpayers who may flee. In March 2022, he offered to put up $1.45 billion to relax IRS liens on his property and assets. In May 2022, he was ruled mentally competent to stand trial by Judge George C. Hanks Jr. of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (in case citations, S.D. Tex.) is the federal district court with jurisdiction over the southeastern part of Texas. The court's headquarters is in Houston, Houston, Texas, and ...

. Brockman was an investor in

Vista Equity Partners Vista Equity Partners Management, LLC is an American private equity firm that invests in software, data, and technology-enabled businesses. It is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, managing over $100 billion in assets. Vista Eq ...

. Its founder Robert F. Smith reached a non-prosecution agreement with the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

, agreeing in October 2020 to assist the DOJ in a case against Brockman who was charged that month with what the DOJ called the "largest ever" tax fraud scheme by a U.S. citizen, and to pay a fine of $139 million.

Personal life

Brockman married at age 18 in Kentucky, and later divorced. He married Dorothy Kay Brockman in 1968; the couple lived in Houston. He was a very private individual and refused public interviews. He was a prolific donor to Republican groups and causes. On August 6, 2022, Brockman's attorney Kathy Keneally confirmed that he had died the previous day. He was 81 years old. Before his death, Brockman had been diagnosed with dementia.

Philanthropy and board memberships

In July 2013,

announced that it had received a $250 million donation from Brockman's charitable trust. This donation was later withdrawn, when a "significant capital market event", upon which the gift was contingent, did not occur. Brockman donated money to, and has two named buildings on the campus of,

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

in Houston. He was also on the ''Council of Overseers'' of the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. He served on the board of trustees of

and

Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brockman, Robert 1941 births 2022 deaths American billionaires American chief executives in the automobile industry American investors American philanthropists American political fundraisers American technology chief executives Businesspeople from Houston People from St. Petersburg, Florida Military personnel from Florida Centre College alumni University of Florida alumni People named in the Pandora Papers Ford people IBM people United States Marine Corps reservists American people convicted of tax crimes