David Sarnoff

AKA:

The General

Birth Name:

David Swirnofsky Sarnoff

Birth Date:

February 27, 1891

Birth Place:

Uzlyany, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire

Death Date:

December 12, 1971

Place of Death:

44 East 71st Street, New York, New York

Age:

Cause of Death:

Mastoid infection

Cemetery Name:

Kensico Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Business and Finance

David Sarnoff was an American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his retirement in 1970. It all began in 1920 when Sarnoff reiterated his “radio music box” memo and was given a small amount of money to develop a radio prototype. As RCA’s new general manager, he demonstrated radio’s market potential by broadcasting the boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier (July 2, 1921); the broadcast created a sensation. Within three years RCA sold more than $80 million worth of receiving sets. In 1926 RCA formed the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). As early as 1923, Sarnoff had perceived the potential of television, which the contributions of several inventors were making technically feasible. His meeting in 1929 with Westinghouse engineer Vladimir Zworykin convinced him that home television was possible, and Sarnoff persuaded Westinghouse to back Zworykin’s work. In 1930 Westinghouse’s television research and Zworykin were transferred to RCA. By 1939 Sarnoff was able to give a successful demonstration of the new medium at the New York World’s Fair. And as they say ... the rest is history.

Fun Facts

When his father died, David Sarnoff dropped out of elementary school to support his mother, three brothers and sisters. Entering a downtown office building to ask for a job as a copy boy for the old New York Herald, the young Sarnoff turned through the wrong door and was hired as a $5.50‐aweek office boy by the Commercial Cable Company. The wrong turn changed his life and, because it marked his entry into the world of electronics and the lives of millions of others who were to be affected by products of his vision.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Kensico Cemetery

273 Lakeview Avenue

Valhalla, New York, 10595

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Kensico Cemetery in Vahalla, New York

Grave Location:

Highland Gardens, Section 52

Grave Location Description

The mausoleum is located 100 feet from Powhattan Avenue near the intersection with Highland Road. From the intersection continue on Powhattan Avenue and after 200 feet turn to the left up the only private, paved road that circles around to the David Sarnoff Mausoleum.