Successor for Jack Tramiel (Popular Computing Weekly, 26th January-1st February 1984)

Successor for Jack Tramiel

MARSHALL Smith, currently president of ThyssenBornemisza, will succeed Jack Tramiel as president and chief executive of Commodore on February 21.

The appointment of the 55 year old Mr Smith to Commodore has been widely linked with Jack Tramiel’s decision to resign from the company (see PCW 19-25 January). Marshall Smith is believed to have refused to accept the Commodore post while Jack Tramiel was still in charge.

Mr Smith joined Indian Head, the US soft-drinks bottler and metal parts manufacturer, in 1967.

Thyssen took over Indian Head in 1974 and Mr Smith was appointed chief executive of the company in 1977. Indian Head was subsequently renamed ThyssenBornemisza.

Irving Gould, Commodore’s chairman and largest single shareholder, is credited with persuading Mr Smith to join the company. The two first met in 1978 when ThyssenBornemisza acquired Interpool, a shipping container company in which Irving Gould had a financial stake.