Jack Tramiel American businessman of Polish descent Date of Birth: 13.12.1928 Country: Poland

1. Early Life and Holocaust Survival
2. Immigration and Military Service
3. Commodore International
4. Transition to Computers
5. Success with the Commodore PET
6. Atari Corporation and Later Years
7. Holocaust Remembrance and Legacy

Early Life and Holocaust Survival

Jack Tramiel was born Jacek Trzmiel on December 13, 1928, in Łódź, Poland. After the German invasion in 1939, his family was confined to the Łódź Ghetto, where he labored in a sewing factory. In 1944, the camp was liquidated, and the inmates were sent to Auschwitz. Tramiel and his father were deemed able to work and were transferred to a labor camp near Hanover. Tragically, his mother perished in Auschwitz. Jack's father was declared dead from typhus, but Tramiel believed he was killed by a gasoline injection.

Immigration and Military Service

In April 1945, Tramiel was liberated by American soldiers. In 1947, he emigrated to the United States. He joined the Army and received training in office equipment repair, including typewriters.

Commodore International

After his military service, Tramiel purchased an office equipment repair shop in the Bronx in 1953. He later established Commodore Portable Typewriter. In 1955, he partnered with a Czechoslovakian company to assemble and sell their typewriters in North America. Commodore Business Machines was founded in Toronto as a way to bypass Czech import restrictions.

Transition to Computers

In the 1960s, the popularity of Japanese typewriters diminished. Tramiel pivoted to calculators, but the emergence of Japanese models threatened that market as well. He traveled to Japan to study the competition and encountered the first electronic calculator. Inspired, he commissioned Chuck Peddle of MOS Technology to design a computer to prove the market's potential.

Success with the Commodore PET

The Commodore PET debuted at the Chicago Consumer Electronics Show in 1977. It became a hit, particularly in education and Europe. However, its monochrome display proved less competitive against color rivals like the Apple II and Atari 800. Commodore responded with the VIC-20 and later the Commodore 64, which became the world's best-selling home computer.

Atari Corporation and Later Years

In 1984, Tramiel resigned from Commodore due to management disagreements. He founded Tramel Technology in 1985, which was renamed Atari Corporation in 1985. In the late 1980s, Tramiel retired, but returned in 1995 after his son Sam suffered a heart attack. In 1996, he sold Atari to Jugi Tandon Storage, becoming a board member of the resulting JTS Corporation.

Holocaust Remembrance and Legacy

Tramiel was a co-founder of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which opened in 1993. He passed away on April 8, 2012, at the age of 83, survived by his wife, Helen, and three sons.