27 Facts About Jack Tramiel

1.

Jack Tramiel was an American businessman and Holocaust survivor, best known for founding Commodore International.

2.

Jack Tramiel was born as Idek Trzmiel into a Jewish family, the son of Abram Josef Trzmiel and Rifka Bentkowska.

3.

Jack Tramiel was examined by Josef Mengele and selected for a work party, after which he and his father were sent to the labor camp Ahlem near Hanover, while his mother remained at Auschwitz.

4.

Jack Tramiel was rescued from the labor camp in April 1945 by the 84th Infantry Division of the US Army.

5.

On November 10,1947, Jack Tramiel immigrated to the United States.

6.

Jack Tramiel soon joined the US Army, where he learned how to repair office equipment, including typewriters.

7.

In 1953, while working as a taxi driver, Jack Tramiel bought a shop in the Bronx to repair office machinery, securing a $25,000 loan for the business from a US Army entitlement.

8.

Jack Tramiel wanted a military-style name for his company, but names such as Admiral and General were already taken, so he settled on the Commodore name.

9.

In 1956, Jack Tramiel signed a deal with a Czechoslovak typewriter manufacturer Zbrojovka Brno NP to assemble and sell their typewriters in North America.

10.

However, as Czechoslovakia was part of the Warsaw Pact, they could not be imported directly into the US, so Jack Tramiel used parts from Zbrojovka's Consul typewriters and set up Commodore Business Machines in Toronto, Canada.

11.

Jack Tramiel was considered by many to be a micromanager who did not believe in budgets; he wanted to approve every expense greater than $1,000, which meant that operations stopped when Jack Tramiel went on vacation.

12.

However, Jack Tramiel has built a large and profitable organization by offering a capable product.

13.

Jack Tramiel definitely plays hardball, but he deserves credit for what he has been able to accomplish.

14.

Jack Tramiel angrily left a January 13,1984 meeting of Commodore's board of directors led by chairman Gould, and never returned to the company.

15.

Jack Tramiel got on stage in front of a whole ballroom full of press people to make the announcement that in the calendar year of 1983, Commodore had sold more than a billion dollars worth of products.

16.

Three days after the show, Jack Tramiel announced that he was resigning from the company.

17.

Jack Tramiel said to Irving, "you can't do that while I'm still president" to which Irving responded by saying "Goodbye".

18.

Three days after the show, Jack Tramiel announced to the public that he was resigning from the company.

19.

In July 1984, Jack Tramiel Technology bought the Consumer Division of Atari Inc from Warner Communications.

20.

Under Jack Tramiel's direction, the Atari ST was a considerable success in Europe, and globally in the professional music market.

21.

In 1996, Jack Tramiel sold Atari to disk-drive manufacturer Jugi Tandon Storage in a reverse merger deal.

22.

The newly merged company was named JTS Corporation, and Jack Tramiel joined the JTS board.

23.

Michael Tomczyk recalled that when Jack Tramiel asked the German government for financial incentives for Commodore to take over a factory,.

24.

Jack Tramiel was a co-founder of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which was opened in 1993.

25.

Jack Tramiel was among many other survivors of the Ahlem labor camp who tracked down US Army veteran Vernon Tott, who was among the 84th Division which rescued survivors from the camp and had taken and stored photographs of at least 16 of the survivors.

26.

Jack Tramiel retired in 1996 and moved to Monte Sereno, California.

27.

Jack Tramiel died of heart failure on April 8,2012, aged 83.