14 Facts About Jay Miner

Jay Glenn Miner was an American integrated circuit designer, known primarily for developing graphics and audio chips for the Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit family and as the "father of the Amiga".

Jay Miner received his first formal electronics education after joining the USCoast Guard out of high school.

Jay Miner returned to school to enroll in the University of California at Berkeley, for which he received a BS in EECS in 1958, focusing on electronics design.

Jay Miner then worked at the companies Standard MicroSystems and American Micro Systems, at the latter of which he contributed to the design of the MP944 microprocessor.

Jay Miner was the designer on the follow-up technology intended for a successor console to the Atari VCS.

Jay Miner worked for a company called Zymos Corporation and received two patents for a microprocessor-driven pacemaker made into a product by the company Intermedics Inc called Cosmos.

In 1982, Jay Miner was approached by Larry Kaplan, former console programmer at Atari, about starting a new company to create a video game hardware without the oversight of a large corporation.

Jay Miner entered financial straits which led it first into a temporary deal with Atari, Inc and then acquisition by Commodore International.

Jay Miner continued to work for Amiga Corporation as a subsidiary of Commodore but grew frustrated with the management style of the company.

Jay Miner left to work as a consultant for the company sometime after 1988, during which time he would appear at various Amiga shows and user group meetings.

Jay Miner married his wife Carolina in 1951 while attending an electronics school in Groton, Connecticut.

Jay Miner was a particular fan of flight simulators on computers, having been significantly inspired to design Amiga as an excellent flight simulator.

Jay Miner endured kidney problems for most of his life, according to his wife, and relied on dialysis.

Jay Miner died due to complications from kidney failure at the age of 62.