Jack Tramiel, Commodore Founder, Dead At 83
Those of us who were around in the 1970’s and 80’s will know the name Jack Tramiel well. This was the man who founded Commodore, the company that went on to make such iconic computers as the Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) in 1977, the incredibly successful Commodore 64 and finally the 16-bit graphics powerhouse, the Commodore Amiga in 1985. This computer had dedicated graphics and sound chips, delivering graphics handling and realism unprecedented in home computers of the time, with the bouncing ball demo being especially well remembered.
He was forced out of Commodore in 1984 after having been blamed for starting a price war in the computer industry. That same year, he went on to buy the struggling Atari and introduced the 16-bit AtariST to the world, a prime competitor to the Commodore Amiga. However, it didn’t have any of the specialized chips that the Amiga had, which put it at a significant disadvantage. Despite this, the ST range of machines came with a MIDI port as standard for sequencing electronic music, so became very popular with musicians of the time and some are even still used today.
He leaves behind his wife Helen and three sons, Gary, Sam and Leonard.
Tramiel, born as Jacek Trzmiel to a Jewish family in Poland, emigrated to the US after the Second World War after losing his parents in Hitler’s camps. Tramiel spent time at Auschwitz and at a German labor camp before it was liberated by the US Army in the closing stages of the war. He came to the US and joined the army before setting up his own business, Commodore Business Machines, selling typewriters.
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