Obituary: Robert L. Scragg

Robert L. Scragg, 91, died January 1 at the Suwannee Health and Rehab Center in Live Oak, Fla.

A World War II Navy veteran, Scragg worked in the 1950s as the RCA representative in the upper Ohio River Valley. In the 1960s, he founded Com/Nav Communication, where he developed a multi-channel VHF-FM radio and Limited Coast Station Ship to Shore communication system. These radios were also used for vessel-to-vessel communications. He brought the single side band radio to the maritime industry in the early 1960s. He was aware of this technology from his service in the Navy; only the military was allowed to use this type of communications. Scragg petitioned the FCC and got 12 channels allocated to the marine industry. Com/Nav was taken public and he started manufacturing VHF-FM and single side band radios. He established a service organization from Pittsburgh, Pa., to the Gulf area.

In the early 1970s, he left the maritime industry and pursued other interest. In his life time he held 10 U.S. patents and one patent from the People’s Republic of China.