IN MEMORIUM

7 November 2014

Crestron founder and passionate innovator George Feldstein passed away on 4 November. Crestron has issued a statement on its website:

It is with great sorrow that we announce the death of Crestron’s Chairman and Founder, George Feldstein. After a brave battle with brain cancer over the past year, he passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family. His passion and love for our industry was evident in everything that he did. His influence has left an indelible mark on all those who were fortunate enough to know him. He was truly a great man and a great leader. We will all sorely miss him, but his spirit will live on in all that he touched.

Born in lower Manhattan in 1941, Feldstein attended public schools in New York and by the time he was 12, had an amateur radio licence and was building transistor amplifiers. At 15 he won a citywide physics competition and went on to earn a masters degree in electronic engineering from New York University, where he also studied bio-medical engineering.

The inventor, engineer and “tireless tinker” according to friends, Feldstein started Crestron in 1969 in a room above a New Jersey deli. He developed a wireless remote control device for slide projectors and to open and close drapes in the 1970s that launched Crestron as a leading AV innovator, growing into a $1 billion family-owned business employing more than 2500 people worldwide.

Feldstein held multiple patents in areas from a nerve stimulator used to relieve pain, to a bicycle chain cleaner. He also played classical guitar, trumpet and harmonica, and held a commercial jet pilot licence. He won many honours during his career including Lifetime Achievement Awards from industry organisations InfoComm and CEDIA.