Sidgmore, who was in large part responsible for forming the structural underpinnings of the Internet through his role at UUNet in the early nineties, took the helm of Worldcom in April 2002 after a disgraced Bernard Ebbers was forced to resign.

In a statement, the company (now called MCI) said, "We are deeply saddened by John Sidgmore's passing. He was a true Internet visionary, leader and friend who had an uncanny ability of bringing joy into people's lives.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with John's wife Randi and the entire Sidgmore family. We hope that they take comfort in the fact that John had a profound, positive affect on the lives of thousands of our employees. We celebrate John's entrepreneurial spirit that will remain with us going forward."

With the promotion from vice chairman, a title he had held for 5 years, Sidgmore had the unenviable task of taking the company through the largest restructuring and bankruptcy proceeding in history. However, that role was passed on to Michael Capellas in November of 2002. Capellas was president of Hewlett-Packard and announced his new role at MCI only six months after that company merged with Compaq Computer. Sidgmore reprieved his role as vice chairman and the company is scheduled to emerge from Chapter 11 protection early 2004.

Prior to joining WorldCom, Sidgmore had already established a track record managing communications companies. From 1994 to 1995 he was chief executive of UUNet Technologies Inc., where he spent his energy aggregating the various Internet "islands" to form the largest single Internet company. UUNet was then snapped up by MFS Communications for $2 billion in 1995. MFS was subsequently bought by Worldcom for $14.3 billion in 1996 whereupon he became a top-level executive at the rapidly expanding Worldcom. Later that year he was to play a major role in Worldcom's takeover of MCI that would make it the second-largest phone company after AT&T.

Sidgmore started his career at General Electric, where be rose to general manager and vice-president of General Electric Information Services.

By: DocMemory
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