Biography
Cornwall was born in Denver, Colorado. Trained as a trombonist, Cornwall performed professionally with the New York City Opera and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Central City Opera, where he performed in the world premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore. After studying math and physics at Harvard College for one and a half years, he dropped out in 1957. Returning to Denver, he worked a systems engineer for United Airlines while performing for the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra (then known as the Denver Businessmen's Orchestra) and studying under its conductor, Antonia Brico. He was drafted by the US Army in 1961 and contributed to developing large systems for the Pentagon's National Military Command and Control Center, where he was named Chief Programmer for global nuclear war-game exercises.
After receiving an honorable discharge from the army, Cornwall returned to the airline industry, where he developed some of the first online systems for flight planning and real-time monitoring. Later in his career he received an MBA in economics from the University of Chicago.
Read more about this topic: David Cornwall
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