Robert W. Sarnoff (July 2, 1918 – February 23, 1997) was an American businessman best known as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

and chairman of the board of

Radio Corporation of America The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Com ...

(RCA) after assuming those positions on the retirement of his father, David Sarnoff. During his rise through the company's ranks, he was best known for his advocacy of color television. Through the early 1970s, Sarnoff attempted to build RCA into a multinational conglomerate which included

rental car Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for a ...

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

manufacturing,

book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, news ...

and sold frozen vegetables. Focus on RCA's core technology businesses waned and also resulted in the selling of their computer division at a massive financial loss. The company's new direction was not particularly successful, and RCA struggled during the

1973–1975 recession The 1973–1975 recession or 1970s recession was a period of economic stagnation in much of the Western world during the 1970s, putting an end to the overall post–World War II economic expansion. It differed from many previous recessions by ...

. After five years as chairman, a "palace revolt" by the board and senior RCA executives removed Sarnoff from the CEO position. After Sarnoff's unsuccessful tenure, RCA never recovered its former stature and was purchased by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

in 1986, which liquidated most of the company's assets. Sarnoff died in 1997 after a struggle with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

Early life

Robert was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on July 2, 1918, the first of three sons of David Sarnoff. He went to private schools for his basic education and then attended the Phillips Academy for

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. In 1939 he graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

with a bachelor's degree in government and philosophy. After a year in

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

, Robert left to enter government service in the broadcasting arm of the Office of Strategic Services. A year later he was commissioned in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and served in the South Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. After the war, he took a series of positions in media, for a short time as the assistant publisher at The Des Moines Register and Tribune and then moving to Look Magazine.

Career at RCA

After avoiding RCA for some time, in 1948 he took a position as an account executive at RCA's National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and moved many times within the company over the next few years. Throughout, he was a strong advocate of color television. In 1953 he broadcast the first commercial program in color, a production of his commissioned

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

, "Amahl and the Night Visitors". His work with NBC required constant travel, during which time he became an avid art collector. In 1956 he was promoted to the president of NBC, replacing Sylvester Weaver. At the time he stated that "We are committed to color and intend to make the transition as fast as possible." He commissioned the first all-color television station, WNBQ-TV in Chicago (which later became

WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (c ...

) and began an expansion of NBC's broadcasting network. Through this period, NBC was a leader in racial integration, the first network to broadcast a program hosted by

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

, and the first to have a black actor in a leading role with

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

in ''I Spy''. In 1965 Robert became president of RCA, and in 1967, the

(CEO). One of Robert's first actions as CEO was to abandon the original RCA logo, changing the name of the company simply to RCA Corporation and introducing a new logo featuring just the three letters in a modern squared font. He also abandoned the use of the "Nipper" logo for RCA, originally introduced for

Victrola The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

's "His Master's Voice" logo, retaining it only for a down-brand record label. His father fell seriously ill in 1970 and was removed from the board, at which point Robert became chairman of the board as well as CEO. His father died the next year. In 1971, Robert sold RCA's computer division to

Sperry Rand Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroug ...

at a $490 million loss, an action which resulted in significant criticism. Over the next several years he sought to build RCA into a conglomerate, purchasing

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

Hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that o ...

car rental service, Banquet Foods and many other companies. Through this period, RCA's core business in the technology field were largely ignored. The effects of the

hit the company particularly hard, and Sarnoff was put under increasing pressure. This came to a head in 1975 when the board ousted Robert in what has been called a "palace revolt".

Personal life

Sarnoff married Esme O'Brien and had a daughter Rosita before divorcing in 1949. That year he married Felicia Schiff Warburg and had two more daughters, Serena and Claudia, before divorcing in 1969. In 1970, Felicia remarried to Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. Robert became known for a series of brief relationships with various recording stars he met through RCA's various record labels. He remarried in 1974 to singer Anna Moffo. Sarnoff was a member of the boards of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

and a member of the

New York Friars Club The Friars Club is a private club in New York City. Famous for its risqué roasts, the club's membership is composed mostly of comedians and other celebrities. Founded in 1904, it is located at 57 East 55th Street, between Park Avenue and Madi ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarnoff, Robert 1918 births 1997 deaths Businesspeople from New York City Military personnel from New York City American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent American television executives NBC executives RCA people Harvard College alumni Phillips Academy alumni Burials at Kensico Cemetery