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10.06.2019

Jack Tramiel - Distinguished Benefactor of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews died

It is with great sadness and the utmost regret to inform that Jack Tramiel – Distinguished Benefactor of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, passed away.

The late Mr. Tramiel was born into a secular family in Poland, in Łódź. He lived through the hardships during the Nazi occupation in Poland –was forced to move with his parents into the Łódź Ghetto, then in 1944 was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, then to labor camps in Germany. Liberated by the American Army in the spring of 1945, Mr. Tramiel emigrated to the United States in 1947. Prior to his leave he married Helen Goldgrub, who joined him in 1948. In the United States he started his own business with a loan of $ 25,000 with which Jack bought a typewriter store, and developed a typewriter importing company – Commodore. Then he switched to calculators, and finally decided to invest in computers. He was the first to offer home computers at available price – Commodore 64, sold in 20m units. After having resigned from Commodore Jack Tramiel founded Tramel Technology, Ltd. and bought Consumer Division of Atari Inc. Tramel Technology, Ltd., renamed to Atari Corporation produced yet another generation of home computers. Jack Tramiel was widely considered the “father of the home computer”.

Mr. Tramiel, together with his wife Helen, have generously supported a wide range of charities and institutions. They were the founding supporters of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Distinguished Benefactors of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Mr. Tramiel died on April 8, 2012 at the age of 83. He is survived by a wife, Helen, and three sons, Samuel, Leonard and Garry.