Atari, Commodore founder Jack Tramiel dies at 83

Computer and gaming legend Jack Tramiel, who founded the firm that made the iconic Commodore computers, died on Easter Sunday at age 83.

 

Forbes.com reported Tramiel was surrounded by family when he died. He is survived by wife Helen, sons Gary, Sam and Leonard, and their families.

 

“Jack Tramiel was an immense influence in the consumer electronics and computing industries. A name once uttered in the same vein as Steve Jobs is today, his journey from concentration camp survivor to captain of industry is the stuff of legends,” Forbes quoted Martin Goldberg, a writer working on a book about the Atari brand and the early days of video games and computing with Atari Museum founder Curt Vendel, as saying.

 

Goldberg added Tramiel's legacy includes the "generations upon generations of computer scientists, engineers, and gamers who had their first exposure to high technology because of his affordable computers – ‘for the masses and not the classes.’”

 

Tramiel is known in technology circles for founding Commodore International, which made the Commodore 64, 128, and Amiga.

 

An article on tech site Engadget also highlighted the Polish-born businessman's inspiring story: born into a Jewish family, he was sent to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.

 

He was rescued in April 1945, and 39 years later he purchased Atari Inc.'s Consumer division and formed the Atari Corp. "that is so well recognized in gaming lore."

 

Forbes said Tramiel started a typewriter repair business in the United States.

 

His typewriter business soon morphed into calculators, and computers.

 

Commodore International gained fame after it launched the Commodore 64 in 1982. The Commodore 64 became the best-selling personal computer of all time.

 

In 1984, after being forced to leave the company he founded, he bought the crumbling Atari Inc.’s Consumer Division and formed Atari Corporation. — TJD, GMA News