Randy Suess, a computer hobbyist who helped build the first online bulletin board, anticipating the rise of the internet, messaging apps and social media, died on Dec. 10 in Chicago. He was 74.

His death, at a hospital, was confirmed by his daughter Karrie.

In late January 1978, Mr. Suess (rhymes with “loose”) was part of an early home computer club called the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists’ Exchange, or CACHE. He and another club member, an IBM engineer named Ward Christensen, had been discussing an idea for a new kind of computer messaging system, but hadn’t had the time to explore it. Then a blizzard hit the Great Lakes region, covering Chicago in more than 40 inches of snow.

As the city shut down, Mr. Christensen phoned Mr. Suess to say that they finally had enough time to build their new system. Mr. Christensen suggested that they get help from the other members of the club, but, as he recalled in an interview, Mr. Suess told him that that would be a mistake because others would just slow the project down.

“Forget the club, it would just be management by committee,” Mr. Christensen recalled him saying, noting that Mr. Seuss had been a self-taught computer technician whose decisions typically came hard and fast. “It’s just me and you. I will do the hardware, and you will do the software.”