Raymond Henry Emplit, who worked for several companies in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry and was widely known for his contributions to cabling and networking standards development, passed away on Thursday, November 23, 2023—Thanksgiving Day in the United States. He was 75.
Most recently, Ray served as datacom standards manager for Harger Lightning and Grounding, a position he held since 2013. Previously he was employed by OBO Bettermann and Wiremold. Emplit co-founded Interlink Technologies, which Wiremold acquired in 1995. Wiremold is now a brand of Legrand.
Ray’s brother Dave Emplit posted news of Ray’s passing on Ray’s Facebook page on November 26. “He was diagnosed with aplastic anemia earlier in the year, and his health went down quickly soon after,” Dave wrote. “He died peacefully, with is family at his side.”
Henry Franc, current chair of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) TR-42 Engineering Committee posted a tribute to Ray on LinkedIn, describing him as “a stalwart leader in the industry, a man who was kind, gentle, wise, giving, and one we would all aspire to be like.” Franc added, “He will be missed, but his contributions will live on through all he has done and all of us whom he influenced … As a mutual colleague said, he was the bar; he raised us all up, he brought us to the next level, he was looking forwards—always.”
In 2022 the TIA recognized Ray Emplit for being among the association’s most active individuals, and for his contributions to the advancement of TIA. He was among the TIA’s top 5% of contributing individuals.
As of November 29, no services for Ray had been made public. The Cremation Society of Pennsylvania was in charge of arrangements.