Bob Brockman, the former CEO of dealership management system giant Reynolds and Reynolds Co. who was indicted in what federal prosecutors called the largest-ever tax case against an individual in U.S. history, has died at 81.
Brockman died Friday at home in Houston, according to his attorney, Kathy Keneally.
Brockman was a self-taught computer programmer who started dealership software company Universal Computer Systems Inc. in his living room in 1970, before taking the helm of Reynolds and Reynolds after a merger with UCS in 2006.
But his rise in the auto retailing software world started to unravel in October 2020, when he was charged with tax evasion, wire fraud and other crimes in what prosecutors say was a scheme lasting two decades to evade taxes on $2 billion in income.
He stepped down as chairman and CEO of Reynolds in November 2020, shortly before his attorneys argued in federal court that Brockman had dementia that left him incompetent to stand trial. A federal judge in May ultimately found Brockman to be competent, moving forward with a trial scheduled for February 2023.