 david sarnoff (, , february 27, 1891 â december 12, 1971) was an american businessman and pioneer of american radio and television. throughout most of his career he led the radio corporation of america (rca) in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his retirement in 1970. he ruled over an ever-growing telecommunications and consumer electronics empire that included both rca and nbc, and became one of the largest companies in the world. named a reserve brigadier general of the signal corps in 1945, sarnoff thereafter was widely known as "the general.""mrs. david sarnoff dies at 79; widow of broadcasting pioneer," new york times, january 10, 1974. sarnoff is credited with sarnoff's law, which states that the value of a broadcast network is proportional to the number of viewers. ==early life== david sarnoff was born to a jewish family in uzlyany, a small town in belarus, to abraham and leah sarnoff. abraham sarnoff emigrated to the united states and raised funds to bring the family. sarnoff spent much of his early childhood in a cheder (or yeshiva) studying and memorizing the torah. he immigrated with his mother and three brothers and one sister to new york city in 1900, where he helped support his family by selling newspapers before and after his classes at the educational alliance. in 1906 his father became incapacitated by tuberculosis, and at age 15 sarnoff went to work to support the family.museum of broadcast communications web site he had planned to pursue a full-time career in the newspaper business, but a chance encounter led to a position as an office boy at the commercial cable company. when his superior refused him paid leave for rosh hashanah, he joined the [[marconi c
1891_births 1971_deaths American_Jews_in_the_military American_anti-communists American_businesspeople American_mass_media_owners American_people_of_Belarusian-Jewish_descent American_television_executives Belarusian_Jews Burials_at_Kensico_Cemetery History_of_radio Imperial_Russian_emigrants_to_the_United_States NBC_executives National_Radio_Hall_of_Fame_inductees People_from_Minsk_Governorate People_from_New_Jersey People_from_Pukhavichy_Raion RCA_people Radio_pioneers Technicolor_SA Television_Hall_of_Fame_inductees Television_pioneers