UNCONFIRMED: Jack Tramiel, 83, founder of Commodore Business Machines

T.H.E. Outlaw

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Apr 8, 2012, 11:38:29 PM4/8/12

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I heard that Jack Tramiel died today. Any reports to confirm?

danny burstein

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Apr 8, 2012, 11:50:20 PM4/8/12

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In <jltljl$mt8$1...@dont-email.me> "T.H.E. Outlaw" <PRI...@private.com> writes:

>I heard that Jack Tramiel died today. Any reports to confirm?

fwiw, wikipedia has him dying April 8 in Monte Sereno, CA.

Don't see any mor einfo in a news.google or a twitter search

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dan...@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

T.H.E. Outlaw

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Apr 8, 2012, 11:57:52 PM4/8/12

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On 4/8/12 11:50 PM, danny burstein wrote:
> In<jltljl$mt8$1...@dont-email.me> "T.H.E. Outlaw"<PRI...@private.com> writes:
>
>> I heard that Jack Tramiel died today. Any reports to confirm?
>
> fwiw, wikipedia has him dying April 8 in Monte Sereno, CA.
>
> Don't see any mor einfo in a news.google or a twitter search
>

I just did an IP search of whoever made the edit, and they're located in
or around Santa Clara, CA. I was looking at photos of the Tramiel clan's
2004 trip to Poland, Lodz, and Auschwitz on Leonard Tramiel's website
and then visited Jack's Wikipedia page.

He's gotten a bum rap over the years over Atari's demise. But if you ask
me, he wasn't the one who ran the company into the ground. His son Sam
was the one who ran it into the ground. And when Sam had his heart
attack and Jack had to take over, Sam had buried Atari so deep that Jack
had no choice but to close shop.

danny burstein

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Apr 9, 2012, 12:01:12 AM4/9/12

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In <jltmo1$rl5$1...@dont-email.me> "T.H.E. Outlaw" <PRI...@private.com> writes:

>I just did an IP search of whoever made the edit, and they're located in
>or around Santa Clara, CA. I was looking at photos of the Tramiel clan's
>2004 trip to Poland, Lodz, and Auschwitz on Leonard Tramiel's website
>and then visited Jack's Wikipedia page.

There's a good writeup about him (not the possible death)
in a recent Polish news article at:

http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kiosk/swiat/wojna-o-przyjaciolke-swiatowa-rewolucja-polaka,1,5080217,wiadomosc.html

The Google translation tool does a functional job...

wgungfu

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Apr 9, 2012, 3:44:18 AM4/9/12

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The claim was promptly reverted on Wikipedia. Until an actual source
is provided, it's just another anonymous IP trying to make a
controversial edit. Happens every day there.

On Apr 8, 10:50 pm, danny burstein <dan...@panix.com> wrote:

wgungfu

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Apr 9, 2012, 12:58:43 PM4/9/12

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Just got confirmation from his son Leonard. Jack did pass away
yesterday.

aadavid

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Apr 9, 2012, 2:38:35 PM4/9/12

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On Apr 8, 11:38 pm, "T.H.E. Outlaw" <PRIV...@private.com> wrote:
> I heard that Jack Tramiel died today. Any reports to confirm?

from Forbes:
Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer Jack Tramiel Dies at Age 83

Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International and crucial figure in
the early history of personal computing, passed away surrounded by
his family on Sunday, his family confirms. He was 83 years old.

Tramiel was born in Poland to a Jewish family in 1939. During World
War II, he and his family were sent to Auschwitz, after which he and
his father were sent to a labor camp Ahlem near Hannover. Tramiel was
rescued in April 1945 and emigrated to the United States in 1947. In
1984, after being forced to leave the company he founded, Jack bought
the crumbling Atari Inc.’s Consumer Division and formed Atari
Corporation.

In America, Tramiel founded a typewriter repair business. Staying on
the forefront of technology, his typewriters morphed into calculators,
and later computers. In 1982, Commodore International launched the
Commodore 64, which went on to the best-selling personal computer of
all time. Tramiel also founded the Atari Corporation in 1984.

“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,” says Martin Goldberg, a writer
working on a book on Atari and the early days of video games. “His
legacy are 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 survived by his wife Helen, their three sons, Gary, Sam and
Leonard, and their extended families.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/04/09/computer-legend-and-gaming-pioneer-jack-tramiel-dies-at-age-83/

Brian Watson

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Apr 9, 2012, 6:52:29 PM4/9/12

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"T.H.E. Outlaw" <PRI...@private.com> wrote in message
news:jltljl$mt8$1...@dont-email.me...

>I heard that Jack Tramiel died today. Any reports to confirm?

Yes, now.

One of computing's real pioneers.

--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."

Steve Miller - A Famous Rock Star!

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Apr 10, 2012, 11:30:35 AM4/10/12

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In article <jltljl$mt8$1...@dont-email.me>,

T.H.E. Outlaw <PRI...@private.com> wrote:
>I heard that Jack Tramiel died today. Any reports to confirm?

Thanks for the story, A.O. Here's a link to the WSJ obit:

http://t.co/BmLpg9WR

--
Steve Miller
Serial obituarist
Twitter: @obitsman

Steve Miller - A Famous Rock Star!

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Apr 10, 2012, 11:31:03 AM4/10/12

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Not really a gaming pioneer

In article <2631650a-16d0-4115...@2g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>,