SARNOFF, DAVID

SARNOFF, DAVID (1891–1971), U.S. electronics pioneer and executive. Sarnoff, who was born in Uzlian, Russia, was taken to the U.S. in 1900. A self-taught telegrapher who had joined the Marconi Telegraph Company of America in 1906 as an office boy, Sarnoff was the operator on duty who picked up and relayed the Titanic's distress signal in 1912. When the Radio Corporation of America (rca), formed in 1919, gained control of the Marconi Company, Sarnoff became rca's commercial manager (1919) and subsequently its president (1930). Foreseeing the enormous growth of the radio medium, and determined to prove the practicality of coast-to-coast broadcasting, he founded the National Broadcasting Company in 1926 as an rca subsidiary. Later, he directed rca's efforts toward making television a practical working medium. He developed its potential as an inexpensive instrument providing entertainment and information for a mass audience. His subsequent decision to invest huge sums to develop color television was made in the face of determined opposition within the company. However, the success of color television vindicated his decision. Sarnoff's abilities built rca into the world's largest electronic complex, doing approximately $2 billion business annually in the late 1960s, in fields ranging from radio and television to computers and earth-orbiting satellites, and employing approximately 100,000 persons in the U.S. and 43 foreign plants.

Active in Jewish affairs, Sarnoff was a member of the board of trustees of the Educational Alliance and the first honorary fellow of the Weizmann Institute of Science. He was associated with the Jewish Theological Seminary for over 25 years and served as a member of both its board of directors and its executive committee. Long active in the U.S. Army Reserve, he was appointed to the rank of brigadier general in 1944.

His son, robert sarnoff (1918–1997), who was born in New York City, served in the army during World War ii. After a period as an executive with Cowles Publications (1945–48), he joined the National Broadcasting Company. Sarnoff subsequently served as that company's president (1955–58) and board chairman (1958–66). In 1966 he was appointed president of rca and in 1967, chief executive officer. He resigned in 1975. He was married to opera singer Anna Moffo.

bibliography:

E. Lyons, David Sarnoff, A Biography (1966). add. bibliography: E. Myers, David Sarnoff: Radio and tv Boy (1972); C. Dreher, Sarnoff, an American Success (1977); K. Bilby, The General (1986); T. Lewis, Empire of the Air (1991); D. Stashower, The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television (2002).