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.

Grave Location GPS

41.07701406787711, -73.7832313531613

Photos:

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Videos Featuring David Sarnoff:

Business Legends: David Sarnoff

The Story Of Television (1956) David Sarnoff, Host

David Sarnoff Vignette

Birth of TV at the 1939 New York World's Fair RCA Pavilion - David Sarnoff Address

David Sarnoff (1891-1971)

Being David Sarnoff | American Genius

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Charles Louis Fleischmann

popular name: Charles Louis Fleischmann

date_of_death: December 10, 1897

age: 62

cause_of_death: Paralysis

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Charles Louis Fleischmann was a Hungarian-American who, along with his brother Maximilian and another partner, created America’s first commercially produced yeast, which revolutionized baking in a way that made today’s mass production and consumption of bread possible. It all began in 1870 when, at the instigation of his partner, Charles began to make yeast by a Hungarian method with which he had been long familiar. The patent for making compressed yeast from the froth or scum formed during the manufacture of malt or spirituous liquors was taken out, however, by his brother Henry, who assigned it to Fleischmann & Gaff in return for an annuity. This yeast was slow in finding a market, so that the partners nearly failed. As a last resort they put on a huge exhibit at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, at which spectators could see the yeast made, the dough set, and the bread baked, and could then adjourn to a restaurant and eat the bread. The exhibit was popular; the restaurant yielded a cash profit; and the advertising value of the enterprise was enormous. Thereafter there was no trouble in selling Fleischmann’s yeast. After Gaff’s death in 1879, Fleischmann bought his share in the business for $500, 000. His wealth grew rapidly. He became a director in some twenty-five Cincinnati enterprises and was president of a cooperage company, a large vinegar works in Illinois, a newspaper company, and the Market National Bank. He took a hand in civic affairs, was fire commissioner in 1890, was elected as a Republican to the state Senate in 1879 and again in 1895, and was a friend and adviser of William McKinley. Today Fleischmann's Yeast is the #1 seller of yeast and the #2 manufacture of vinegar in the world.