Jack Tramiel

Jack Tramiel (born 1928) is famous for founding Commodore International, manufacturer of the Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga home computers.

Pre-computer days

Tramiel was born in 1928 in ?ód?, Poland, as Idek Tramielski. After the Nazi invasion in 1939 his family was transported to the Jewish ghetto in ?ód?, where he worked in a pants factory. When the ghettos were liquidated his family was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was examined by Dr. Mengele and selected for a work party, after which he and his father were sent to the work camp Alum near Hanover, while his mother remained at Auschwitz. His father died of Typhus in the work camp like many other inmates, although Tramiel believes he was killed by an injection of gasoline. Tramiel was rescued in April 1945 by the U.S. Army.

Related Topics:
1928 - ?ód? - Poland - Nazi - 1939 - Ghetto - Auschwitz - Concentration camp - Dr. Mengele - Hanover - Gasoline - 1945 - U.S. Army

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In November of 1947, Tramiel emigrated to the United States and soon joined the army. In the army he learned how to repair office equipment, including typewriters. In 1953, while working as a taxi driver, he bought a shop in Bronx to repair office machinery, and named it Commodore Portable Typewriter. He then later started a business importing typewriters from Europe, and in 1955, to circumvent import restrictions, he set up Commodore Business Machines in Toronto. Tramiel wanted a military-style name for his company, but names like Admiral and General were already taken, so he settled on the Commodore name.

Related Topics:
1947 - United States - Typewriter - 1953 - Taxi - Bronx - 1955 - Toronto

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In 1962, Commodore went public. During the 1960s the Japanese started producing low-cost typewriters and Commodore could no longer compete in that market. He then turned to adding machines, but it was not long before the Japanese were entering this business as well. Commodore's main investor, Irving Gould, sent Tramiel to Japan to learn ways to compete, but when he returned he had a different idea instead.

Related Topics:
1962 - 1960s - Japanese - Adding machine - Irving Gould

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In 1970 he started work on electronic calculators, and in the early 1970s Commodore became a major supplier of calculators based on a Texas Instruments chip-set. In 1975 TI decided to take over the market, and started producing their own complete calculators which sold at a cost lower than the price of the chip-set alone. This drove most manufacturers out of business, but by this time Commodore had enough of a war chest to survive.

Related Topics:
1970 - Calculator - Texas Instruments - Chip-set - 1975 - War chest

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