Father of Sabre Dies

Max Hopper, known as the “father of Sabre” and the “father of airline IT,” died Jan. 25 after a massive stroke. He was 75 and lived in Dallas.

Hopper was instrumental in the development of American Airlines’ Semi-Automated Business Research Environment (SABRE), which still serves as American’s passenger reservations and processing system. (American currently is working with HP to develop a replacement.)

In the early 1970s, Hopper worked on a joint airline reservations system that could be placed in travel agencies, which at the time booked about 40% of American’s tickets. That project was abandoned when word got out that United was planning to put its own system into agencies.

American worked quickly to regain the advantage, and in 1976, Donald Sohn, the founder of Heritage Travel, made the first sale on the Sabre system. Both the sale of air transportation and the travel agency business were changed forever.

Hal Hensley, whose consultancy, Hensley & Associates, worked with travel agencies on IT and data processing projects in the 1980s, said that Hopper should be remembered as not just an IT visionary, but also as “a leader who had the wisdom to recruit, train and develop great talent.”

Hopper was born Nov. 4, 1934, in Texas and graduated from the University of Houston.

His career in information technology began when he joined Electronic Data Systems in 1967.

He worked on a project to help United Airlines develop its internal passenger reservations system. Eventually, he joined United and then went to work at American Airlines in 1972.

Eventually Hopper was named chairman of the Sabre Technology Group and senior vice president of American Airlines, retiring in 1995.

He was a recipient of many awards and honors, including the J.D. Edwards Leadership Award for Collaborative Innovation.

After his retirement, he continued to advise companies on IT matters through his consultancy, Max D. Hopper Associates.

Hopper’s survivors include his widow, Jo; his son, Stephen; his daughter, Laura Wassmer, and three grandchildren. A memorial was held on Saturday and the family requests that those wishing to make memorial donations send them to the USO Dallas/Fort Worth, Box 613306, DFW Airport, Texas 75261.