Game Industry Pioneer Jack Tramiel Passes Away at 83

Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International and former owner of Atari Inc, has passed away at his family’s side at the age of 83.

He’s well known in the game industry for the founding of Commodore International, as well as his purchase of Atari from Warner in 1984. He helped to reinvigorate the dying company by starting a computer business within it, launching the Atari ST desktop computer, not to mention video game consoles Atari 7800 and Lynx.

Above all this, Jack Tramiel was, incredibly, a survivor of the Holocaust and Auschwitz.

Martin Goldberg, writer of a book on Atari and the early days of video games, states 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.”

“His legacy is 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.’”

Rest in peace Mr. Tramiel, I’m sure I speak for everyone when I thank you for your contributions to an industry we all love. You’ve helped to bring joy to gamers worldwide, and we’re grateful.

[via Forbes & Joystiq]