William Moggridge

William Grant Moggridge was born in London on June 25, 1943, to Helen and Henry Weston Moggridge. His mother was an artist and his father was a civil servant. He studied industrial design at the Central St. Martins College of Art and Design (formerly Central School of Design) in London and founded Moggridge and Associates there in 1969. He opened a new design firm called ID Two in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1979. Was hired by a start-up firm, Grid Systems, to design a new type of computer — one that could fit into a briefcase. Mr. Moggridge’s ingenious solution was a clamshell case, roughly 15 by 12 inches, which popped open to reveal a luminous screen on top that folded over the keyboard on bottom. The Compass, as this groundbreaking laptop was called, went on sale for about $8,000. Although the price was too high for the average consumer, the Compass was popular with the military and made trips aboard the space shuttle starting in 1983. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Karin; their sons, Alex and Erik; and his brother, Hal.