John F. Keane - A Bio
1931-2022
John F. Keane was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. He lived there until he was about 10 when he and his family moved to Long Island. His mother worked at home and his father was an investment advisor on Wall Street. After high school, John attended Harvard University studying economics. He graduated magna cum laude in three years. John then went on for his MBA at Harvard finishing in 1954.
After Harvard, he started at Arthur D. Little. But decided to go into the Navy later that year in 1954. John spent three years in the service. Once done, he returned back to Arthur D. Little for the next few years. With a child on the way - he and his family decided to settle down and he joined IBM sales team in their Boston office.
John spent about 6 years with IBM. In 1964 - IBM released the System 3 - the first integrated computer system. John saw a great opportunity to help customers fully leverage this new computer so he started Keane Associates on December 15, 1965.
As they say the rest is history. John grew the company from 1 person in 1965 to around 10,000 and over $1B in revenue by 1998. An amazing run!
John passed away on January 26, 2022. (Boston Globe Obituary)
1. Keane, John F.. (2002). Oral history interview with John Keane. Charles Babbage Institute. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/107392.
2. Image is from the 1996 Keane, Inc. annual report.