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Author Topic: Passing of CUSA Founder Barry Altman  (Read 6803 times)

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Offline eliyahuTopic starter

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Passing of CUSA Founder Barry Altman
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:51:39 PM »
@thread

this thread is to discuss the passing of CUSA founder barry altman in december 2012.  this came as a bit of a surprise to us earlier today.  this is my first post on the subject in a related thread:    @Darrin
the latest theory at the CUSA forums seems to be that barry died back in december. yikes.

please keep your discussion respectful at all times. strict moderation will be imposed in this thread if necessary.

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« Last Edit: January 16, 2013, 09:37:59 PM by eliyahu »
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Offline Darrin

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2013, 06:00:51 PM »
Quote from: eliyahu;722759
@Darrin

the latest theory at the CUSA forums seems to be that barry died back in december. yikes.

-- eliyahu


Well as much as I locked horns with him in the past, I'd hate that to be true.

I often wondered whether he was trying to leave Commodore USA behind as his legacy.  I have to think that Dammy or Big Ben would have mentioned this if it had happened.
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Offline Darrin

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2013, 06:05:55 PM »
Oh bugger!  It could be true:

Quote
Altman, Barry, 63, of Fort Lauderdale, FL, passed away on December 8, 2012. Beth Israel Memorial Chapel, Boynton Beach.

.Published in Sun-Sentinel on December 10, 2012


As they say, there's more than one Barry Altman in Florida, but a Google search showed that this was a Barry S Altman.
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Offline eliyahuTopic starter

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2013, 06:32:32 PM »
Quote from: Darrin;722762
Well as much as I locked horns with him in the past, I'd hate that to be true.

I often wondered whether he was trying to leave Commodore USA behind as his legacy.  I have to think that Dammy or Big Ben would have mentioned this if it had happened.
dammy wouldn't be in the loop and ben would probably be trying to put company assets in his name. i should also point out that there is only one barry altman in ft. lauderdale according to the phonebook. i still hope it isn't true.

-- eliyahu
« Last Edit: January 16, 2013, 06:38:20 PM by eliyahu »
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Offline Kremlar

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2013, 06:46:24 PM »
Quote
Say $1000 a month for the office, next to nothing for staff as they don't have any worth mentioning, a low six figure salary for Ben...

FYI I doubt that salary is accurate. Unless Barry has/had a lot of money kicking around, and wanted to spend it, it's more likely Ben was receiving some kind of payment via shares, perhaps with some $ kicked in to pay the bills. The payoff would have been if the company eventually took off, became valuable, went public, etc...
 
I've been involved with a few startups and in most cases someone like Ben was in it for shares, not pure $. He probably was still working a full time job, just burning the midnight oil with C= USA hoping to strike it rich.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2013, 06:49:04 PM by Kremlar »
 

Offline Darrin

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2013, 06:50:52 PM »
Quote from: Kremlar;722771
FYI I doubt that salary is accurate. Unless Barry has/had a lot of money kicking around, and wanted to spend it, it's more likely Ben was receiving some kind of payment via shares, perhaps with some $ kicked in to pay the bills. The payoff would have been if the company eventually took off, became valuable, went public, etc...
 
I've been involved with a few startups and in most cases someone like Ben was in it for shares, not pure $. He probably was still working a full time job, just burning the midnight oil with C= USA hoping to strike it rich.


True.  From a personal point of view I like cash rather than stock options and if I was the only one that appeared to do any work then I'd want a chunk of cash.  :)
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Offline Kremlar

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2013, 06:53:10 PM »
Agreed.  Good for Ben if he did get that $$$.
 

Offline Darrin

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2013, 06:54:39 PM »
Quote from: eliyahu;722768
dammy wouldn't be in the loop and ben would probably be trying to put company assets in his name. i should also point out that there is only one barry altman in ft. lauderdale according to the phonebook. i still hope it isn't true.

-- eliyahu


If this is indeed the case, it will be interesting to see what happens to C-USA.  I'd assume the company would pass to the next of kin who might have zero interest in it and then want to pass it on to any interested party.  Ben has invested a lot of time and effort into this project, so he would certainly be a likely candidate to take it over (if the price is right).  The question then will be whether we just have more of the same or a complete reboot.
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Offline Darrin

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2013, 06:56:09 PM »
Quote from: Kremlar;722774
Agreed.  Good for Ben if he did get that $$$.


I hope he did too.  Wasn't he resident in Australia before this?  If I had to move to the USA and take a risk with a startup then I'd want to come out at least even if the project failed.
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Offline Kremlar

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2013, 07:01:21 PM »
I've only been following this half-heartedly, but I feel like Ben was still in Australia - I don't think he moved.
 
I feel like Barry was doing most of what I would consider the real work, wheeling and dealing with his contacts in China regarding hardware and getting it built, probably traveling back and forth anyway for his furniture business.  
 
Ben was probably the dreamer, spending his time on skinning Linux and googling for different cases and ideas to differentiate and somehow attract the nostalgic crowd, perhaps picking and choosing specs (CPU, RAM, etc.), but probably butting heads with Barry on most of the stuff he wanted.
 

Offline Darrin

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2013, 07:20:33 PM »
I've just been told by "someone" that Barry was active on his Twitter account after the date of this reported "death".

https://twitter.com/CEOatCUSA

Those last Tweets seem rather strange.  Food stuff in NYC, Global Warming, new years resolutions.... they seem to be reTweets to links.  I don't use Twitter, so can you automatically set your account to reTweet stuff?


@Kremlar:  That sounds very likely.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2013, 07:31:49 PM by Darrin »
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Offline Darrin

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #11 on: January 16, 2013, 07:50:21 PM »
Nope, it's him:

Quote
In Celebration of a life well lived

Barry S. Altman
November 6, 1949 -
December 8, 2012


Passed Away At : Weston, Florida
Survived By : Edith Altman, Mother
                             Renee Altman, Spouse
                             Jeremy Altman, Son
                             Erika (Justin) Lane, Daughter
                             Lawrence Altman, Brother
Graveside Service : Monday December 10, 2012, 10:00AM at Eternal Light Memorial Gardens.


Erika Lane is his lawyer daughter who appears on the Corporate website.
A2000, A3000, 2 x A1200T, A1200, A4000Tower & Mediator, CD32, VIC-20, C64, C128, C128D, PET 8032, Minimig & ARM, C-One, FPGA Arcade... and AmigaOne X1000.
 

Offline Blizz1220

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #12 on: January 16, 2013, 08:52:57 PM »
Rest in peace Barry ...
« Last Edit: January 16, 2013, 10:26:21 PM by Blizz1220 »
 

Offline spirantho

Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2013, 09:22:32 PM »
This thread should be visible from the front page now, I feel... or at least a related thread created. But yes - change the title first please!
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Offline eliyahuTopic starter

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2013, 09:39:02 PM »
@spirantho @Blizz1220

thread detached from earlier discussion and moved to general amiga forum.

-- eliyahu
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