Max Palevsky was an American art collector, venture capitalist, philanthropist, and computer technology pioneer. He was born in 1924 in Chicago, Illinois, and died at the age of 85 of heart failure on May 5, 2010, at his home in Beverly Hills, California.
Early life
Palevsky was born in Chicago to Izchok (Isadore) (May 10, 1890, in Pinsk, Minsk, Russia – September 27, 1969, in Los Angeles), and Sarah Greenblatt (May 16, 1894, in Poland-Russia – December 28, 1949, in Chicago). Both were recent immigrants. Izchok had arrived in Baltimore from Bremen, Germany on the S.S. Brandenburg on March 18, 1910, while Sarah immigrated from Poland-Russia around 1916. Palevsky's parents spoke Yiddish fluently, but little English. Since his father did not have a car while working as a house painter, he had to use the Chicago streetcars for carrying all his equipment around.
The youngest of three children, Palevsky grew up at 1925 1/2 Hancock Street in Chicago. His older brother, Harry (September 16, 1919 — September 17, 1990), was a physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb at Los Alamos National Laboratory; his sister, Helen (born 1920), married Melvin M. Futterman (December 28, 1918 - March 14, 1989).
After graduating from public high school in Chicago, Palevsky volunteered for the US Army Air Corps as a weatherman during World War II from 1943 to 1946. For his training he went for a year to the University of Chicago for basic science and mathematics and Yale University for electronics. He was then sent to New Guinea, which was the Air Force's central base for electronics in the South Pacific. After the war, the GI Bill made it financially feasible for Palevsky to earn a B.S. in mathematics and a B.Ph. in philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1948.[1] Palevsky did post-graduate work in philosophy at UC Berkeley and the University of Chicago.
Max Palevsky Residence Hall
Computers
After attending and resigning from a doctorate program in philosophy at UCLA, where he had served as a teaching assistant in the philosophy department, Palevsky discovered computer technology through a lecture at Caltech by John von Neumann about the advent of computer technology, and the possibility of building a device to correct its own errors.
With his background in logic and electronics, Palevsky first worked on a computer project in 1951 for $100 a week designing computers at Northrop Aircraft, designing the "MADDIDA" (short for "magnetic drum differential analyzer"). Invented by physicist Floyd G. Steele, MADDIDA was priced from $25,000 to $30,000 and was built between March 1950 and January 1951. Intended to help analyze differential equations, MADDIDA would prove to be the last and most sophisticated dedicated differential analyzer ever built, from then on all attention turned to electronic computers.
Almost immediately after he joined Northrop, the division was sold to Bendix Corporation. Palevsky worked at Bendix from 1952 to 1956 designing digital differential analyzers as a project engineer, working on the logic design for the company's first computer. In March 1956, Bendix offered their first digital computer, the Bendix G-15, described by some as the first personal computer (a claim that is widely disputed). Palevsky worked on the DA-1 differential analyzer option, which connected to the G-15 and resulted in a machine similar to the MADDIDA, using the G-15 to re-wire the inputs to the analyzer instead of the custom drums and wiring of the earlier machine.
In March 1957 Palevsky went on to work at Packard Bell at a new affiliate of the company which he started called Packard Bell Computer Corp. in a store front at 11766 W Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. He was vice president and director of the new division. The new facility launched a research and development program in the digital computer field, with a staff of experienced engineers and skilled technicians to implement the new development. Palevsky convinced the company that they should enter the computer business and helped develop the first silicon computer, which became the Packard Bell PB250, which was modestly successful. In April 1960, Packard-Bell Computer Corp. and Bailey Meter Co. signed an agreement for the exclusive application of PB250's in the control of power plants. As vice president and general manager of Packard Bell Computer, Palevsky supervised building of a new 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2). building at 1935 Armacost Avenue to house the firm's expanding computer activities, for consolidation of computer and systems engineering and needed expansion of systems as well as computer manufacturing facilities. Palevsky gave many lectures during this period, including the second international meeting on analog computation at Strasobourg, France in September 1958.
Scientific Data Systems
Palevsky felt that ten percent of the market of small to medium size scientific and process control computers was being totally neglected. He started looking for venture capital to start a company to address this market, and through contacts from the University of Chicago was able to raise $1 million from Arthur Rock and the Rosenwald family of the Sears Roebuck fortune. He left Packard Bell with eleven associates from the computer division to found Scientific Data Systems of California in September 1961.
Within a year they introduced the SDS 910, which made them profitable. Initially, they targeted scientific and medical computing markets. From 1962 to 1965, the company introduced seven computers, all of them commercial successes. On March 15, 1966 they introduced the Sigma 7, the first of a family of machines that market the full-scale entry of the company into new areas of business data processing, time sharing, and multiprocessing. The Sigma 7 had business capabilities because the once-separate disciplines of business and scientific electronic data processing had moved to the point where one machine could handle both. SDS became a little more than two per cent of the overall digital computer market in 1966 and continued to grow with the market.
Palevsky sold SDS to Xerox in May 1969 for $920 million, with Arthur Rock's assistance, at which time he became a director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Xerox Corporation. Palevsky's initial investment of $60,000 in SDS became nearly $100 million at the sale. He retired as a director of Xerox in May 1972.
California politics
Palevsky dabbled in Democratic politics. He supported Robert F. Kennedy and in 1972 donated $300,000 to George McGovern. Among other political projects, he managed Tom Bradley's first successful campaign for mayor of Los Angeles in 1973. He made numerous friends and allies on the California political scene, including former governor Gray Davis. Many were dismayed at Palevsky's $1 million dollar contribution in support of California Proposition 25, a campaign-finance reform initiative. He said to Newsweek: "I am making this million-dollar contribution in hopes that I will never again legally be allowed to write huge checks to California political candidates."
Arts, culture, and venture capital
As a venture capitalist, Palevsky has helped to fund many companies, including Intel, which grew to become one of the nation's leading semiconductor companies and a pioneer in the development of memory chips and microprocessors. Palevsky became a director along with Arthur Rock, who helped bankroll SDS, at the company's July 18, 1968 founding as Integrated Electronics Corporation, later changed to Intel on August 6, 1968. Intel was funded with $2 million in venture capital financing that Arthur Rock assembled. Palevksy became a director emeritus in February 1998.
He also became a director and board chairman of Rolling Stone magazine, which he rescued from financial destruction in 1970 by buying a substantial share of the stock. While on the board he became friends with the late Hunter S. Thompson, inventor of Gonzo journalism.[3] In December 1970, Cinema V, the movie-theater distribution operation entered film production in a joint venture, Cinema X with Palevsky. He went into independent production with Peter Bart, former production vice president of Paramount Pictures in November 1973 in a deal with Paramounnt to produce six features in three years. Palevsky produced and bankrolled several Hollywood films, including Fun with Dick and Jane and Islands in the Stream both with Peter Bart in 1977, and Endurance in 1998.[4] Author Albert Goldman dedicated his controversial 1988 biography The Lives of John Lennon to Palevsky. In June 1977, Palevsky was elected to the board of the American Ballet Theater.
Palevsky also served as a director and Chairman of the Board of Silicon Systems Inc. of Tustin, CA from April 1983 until February 1984, chairman and chief executive of the board of The Daisy Systems Corporation, a Mountain View, CA-based maker of computer systems used to design electronic circuits, and from November 1984 to 1999, a director of Komag Corp., a Milpitas, CA based maker of data storage media.
Palevsky also collected art, particularly Japanese woodblock prints, and gave generously to establish and maintain institutions of visual art. He established the Palevsky Design Pavilion at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. He also built an Arts & Crafts collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and donated $1 million to help establish the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2001, he promised his art holdings to LACMA.[1]
Max Palevsky funded the American Cinematheque's refurbishment of the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. The theatre re-opened in January 2005 and bears his name.
The University of Chicago
The Max Palevsky Commons, a dormitory at the University of ChicagoPalevsky is an alumnus of the University of Chicago, where he earned undergraduate degrees in both philosophy and mathematics in 1948. He served as a trustee at his alma mater from 1972-1982. He established the Palevsky Professorship in History and Civilization in 1972 and the Palevsky Faculty Fund in 1996.
In 2000, Palevsky donated $20 million to his alma mater to enhance residential life. In 2001, the University completed construction on three large colorful dorms that are connected through underground tunnels and bear his name. A one-screen cinema at the University is also named after him, and is the home of Doc Films, the oldest continuously running student film association in the United States.
Personal life
Palevsky was married and divorced five times and had six children. He was married to his first wife, Mary Joan Yates (Joan Palevsky), from 1952 to 1968. With her huge divorce settlement, she became a renowned philanthropist. With Max, she had two children, Madeleine Moskowitz and Nicholas Palevsky. His second wife was Sara Jane Brown, whom he married on September 6, 1969. In November 1972, he married Lynda L. Edeltstein, his third wife. Jodie Evans, his fifth wife and widow, is a political activist.
Palevsky owned homes notable for their architecture, furniture, and art collections. Three California Houses: The Homes of Max Palevsky featured architecture and design by Ettore Sottsass of the Memphis group, Craig Ellwood, George Washington Smith, and Coy Howard.
In 1985 and 1988, Palevsky was named to the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans. His estimated worth for those years was $200 million (1985) and $240 million (1988).
麦克斯:IT教父传奇收藏家
85岁高龄辞世的麦克斯-派里维斯基(Max Palevsky),是IT教父,同时也是一位艺术赞助者和传奇收藏家。纽约佳士得从2010年10月到12月之间陆续拍卖派里维斯基个人收藏,拍品总价超过7800万美元。
85岁高龄辞世的麦克斯-派里维斯基 费尔南-莱热《一杯茶》,1921年,成交价:$8,146,500, 纽约佳士得 他是已故的传奇,他最为人熟知的显赫身份是全球最大的电脑芯片制造商英特尔的联合创始人,建立了美国的计算机王国,也成就了今天的洛杉矶州立美术馆(Los Angeles County Museum of Art)。他曾对记者说,“我知道这听起来有点像我痴迷于自己的幻想,但我还是一直觉得我应该是个建筑师。”他就是—麦克斯-派里维斯基,IT 教父,同时是一位艺术的迷恋者。
2010年10月26-27日佳士得“版画与多门类专场”中,率先上拍的是派里维斯基收藏的大量名家代表作版画,共上拍356 件作品。其中最为抢眼的爱德华-蒙克(Edward Munch)风格阴郁的代表作《吸血鬼II》(Vampire II) 拔得头筹,以66.25万美元售出。这位画家是艺术史上有名的“畸形”天才。他热爱讨论心理学和哲学,但一生多次遭受心理疾病和抑郁困扰,病恹恹地活着忍受各人生否泰,亲人的离去与背叛。他的作品有浓重的个人风格,疯狂、压抑却表现力达到极致。派里维斯基称他是“真正人生的战士”。
亚力山大-考尔德《红色卷曲》,成交价:$8,146,500 , 纽约佳士得 理查德-林德纳《西48街》,成交价:$1,022,500,纽约佳士得 拍卖的第二高价是安迪-沃霍尔的1983 年作品《濒危物种》,售出53.05万美元。此外还有57 件毕加索的作品,包括版画、绘画、手稿、工艺品,其中1962年作版画《戴帽子女者头像》(Bust de Femme au Chapeau)以27.85 万美元高价出售,位列全场第三。
英特尔创始人向芝加哥大学捐助2千万美元编辑本段回目录
2000-06-29 英特尔公司的创始人和名誉顾问Max Palevsky,许诺向他的母校-芝加哥大学捐助2千万美元。芝加哥大学准备建造一个三层高,可容纳700名学生的宿舍综合楼,其中包括语音室,计算机机房和隔音的音乐练习室。预计工程将在2001年秋天竣工。
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Palevsky