Gateway Inc co-founder Mike Hammond dies at age 53 exactly 30 years after setting up computer firm in his friend's farmhouse

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Passed away: Mike Hammond, co-founder of Gateway Inc, has died at the age of 53 in Iowa

Gateway Inc co-founder Mike Hammond has died at the age of 53.

The grandfather-of-four passed away in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday, just five months after his wife lost her battle with cancer.

It is exactly 30 years since Hammond set up the popular computer firm in a farmhouse with two friends he met at a football game.

He is credited with playing a crucial role in the early development of the firm, which went on to be one of the world's biggest PC manufacturers, though his name is little-known. 

Colleagues and friends say his work was under-appreciated at the company. 

A cause of death was not immediately clear. 

Hammond started Gateway with brothers Ted and Norm Waitt after meeting the former at a University of Iowa football game in October 1984. 

Having dropped out of Missouri College, Hammond was working for a computer store, and Waitts came to join him, according to his obituary in the Sioux City Journal. 

Eleven months later, the paper says, the duo launched a start-up called TIPC Network, operating out of the Waitts' cattle farm. 

They build and sold components for a computer firm in Texas. 

The firm grew quickly. Soon, they renamed their business Gateway 2000, shipping computers directly to consumers in boxes decorated with cow spots.

It was not long before they made the Fortune 500. 

Hammond helped manage the company's operations in Iowa and South Dakota. After retiring from Gateway, he started Dakota Muscle to restore and repair classic cars.

Former Sioux City Mayor Jim Wharton, who worked with Hammond, told the Sioux City Journal he thinks Hammond's contributions were under appreciated at the company.

He said: 'He was always in the background. He was the nuts and bolts of the organization... So widely respected, and one of the smartest guys I ever met.'

Gateway soared to success after Hammond (pictured) and Tom Waitts shipped made-to-order computers directly to consumers in boxes decorated with cow spots - a tribute to the farmhouse they worked in

Hammond is credited with playing a crucial role in the early development of Gateway Inc, which went on to be one of the world's biggest PC manufacturers. Colleagues said he was 'the nuts and bolts' of the company

Hammond, nicknamed 'Hammer', was an avid golfer and fan of both the Iowa Hawkeyes and Chicago Bears.

He is survived by a brother and a sister, a son and a daughter and their mother, five stepchildren, and four grandchildren. His brother, wife and parents died before him. 

An open-casket funeral service will be held in Sioux City on Tuesday. Guests have been asked to dress in Iowa Hawkeye and Chicago Bears clothing.