Donald Prell

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Donald B. Prell

Donald B. Prell (born July 7, 1924) is a venture capitalist, author and futurist who created Datamation, the first magazine devoted solely to the computer hardware and software industry.

Early life

Prell was born in Los Angeles, California, and graduated from Los Angeles High School in the summer of 1942. At the end of his sophomore year at UCLA he enlisted in the US Army. In 1944, age 19, he graduated from Officer Candidate School (U.S. Army), Ft. Benning, Georgia, and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, Infantry. Serving in the European Theater of Operations as an anti-tank platoon leader with the Anti-Tank Company, 422nd Regiment, 106th Division, during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944, he was wounded and captured. In March 1945, he was liberated by Task Force Baum during its “Raid” at Oflag XIII-B (which General George S. Patton, Jr. reported as the only mistake he made during World War II).[1] Prell’s freedom lasted only a few days as he was recaptured after attempting to locate friendly forces. A month later, he escaped from a POW camp south of Nuremberg, and found his way to freedom.

He attended UCLA from June of 1942 until May of 1944 and then from February of 1946 until June of 1948. While at UCLA he was an active member of the American Veterans Committee. After graduating from UCLA in 1948, as a candidate for the Ph.D. (1948-1951), he joined Hans Eysenck’s Program Research Team at the University of London. It was here that he learned to program Hollerith punched card tabulation machines, the forerunner of today’s digital computers.

Marriage and family

In 1960 he married Elizabeth (Bette) Howe, novelist and assistant editor of Datamation Magazine. They have two children: Owen Trelawny Prell and Erin Teleri Prell.

Professional career

During the 1950s Prell worked with Rand Corporation futurist Herman Kahn, who later founded the Hudson Institute in New York. Also in the 1950s he was associated with many of the early designers of high-speed computer input-output devices, analog to digital converters and digital display plotters. In 1958, working with Thompson Publications, he created Datamation, the first magazine dedicated solely to the emerging computer-data-processing industry.[2] Later he founded and served as President of two venture capital firms: 1967 Union Ventures (a subsidiary of the Union Bank N.A.) and in 1980 Imperial Ventures (a subsidiary of Imperial Bank of California). During his association with Union Bank, he was responsible for producing the bank’s first and only 30-year Strategic Plan.

Other interests

Although his primary occupation has been as a venture capitalist and futurist, he has had a long-standing scholarly interest in two diverse individuals: Edward John Trelawny and Pierre Laval. His extensive collections of books and other material by and about these two men are now housed in the Special Collections of two Universities:

The Edward John Trelawny Collection is in the Special Collections of the Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California. This collection contains one of the original Notebooks of Edward Ellerker Williams.[3]

The Pierre Laval Collection is in Special Collections of the UCR Libraries, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California.[4]

Publications

  • The Inheritance of Neuroticism: An Experimental Study, Hans. J. Eysenck and Donald B. Prell, The Journal of Mental Health, Volume XCVII, July, 1951, pp. 441–465
  • Economic study of the Seychelles Island, D. B. Prell. 1965,[5]
  • The Sinking of the Don Juan Revisited, Donald B. Prell, Keats-Shelley Journal, Volume LVI, 2007, pp. 136–154
  • Discovering Byron’s Boat (the Bolivar), Donald Prell, The Byron Journal, Volume 35, No.1, 2007, pp. 53–59
  • Trelawny, Fact or Fiction, Donald B. Prell, Strand Publishing, 2008
  • Sailing With Byron from Genoa to Cephalonia, Donald B. Prell, Strand Publishing, 2009
  • Lord Byron --- Coincidence or Destiny, Donald B. Prell, Strand Publishing, 2009
  • Biography of Captain Daniel Roberts, Donald B. Prell, Strand Publishing, 2010

References

  1. ↑ Patton (Ordeal and Triumph) by Ladislas Farago, 1964, p. 790. (Originally from Patton’s personal Journal, published posthumously in the Saturday Evening Post in August 1949)
  2. ↑ see Wikipedia article: Datamation
  3. ↑ Edward John Trelawny Collection - Special Collections at The Claremont Colleges Library
  4. ↑ UCR Libraries /All Locations
  5. ↑ UCLA Library Catalog - Titles
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