Evelyn Berezin was an American engineer and computer expert born in the Bronx, considered one of the most distinguished inventors of the 20th century. She created the world’s first computerized word processor and developed an automated airline reservation system. Let’s take a closer look at Evelyn Berezin’s life and groundbreaking discoveries on i-bronx.com.
An Unusual Passion for a Girl
Evelyn Berezin was born on April 12, 1925, in the East Bronx to Jewish immigrant parents from the Russian Empire. Her father, Sam, was a furrier, and her mother, Rose, was a seamstress. Evelyn’s childhood was spent in an apartment building under the rumble of subway trains passing on an elevated track directly over their neighborhood. Her passion for science began in her school years when she would secretly read her older brother’s Astounding Stories magazines, immersing herself in the world of science fiction. This reading sparked a curiosity for technology that only grew with each passing year.
Evelyn was an exceptionally gifted student. At 15, she graduated from Christopher Columbus High School, after which she attended Hunter College and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. During World War II, Berezin became one of the few women admitted to “male” technical programs, where she studied calculus and other complex subjects.
In 1946, Evelyn earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from New York University and later began working on her doctorate but left before completing the experimental portion. In the early 1950s, she entered the world of computer technology, working on logical design and creating innovative systems.
A Life-Changing Discovery
Evelyn Berezin’s pioneering journey began in 1951 when, as the only woman in the office, she was given the task to “design a computer.” Despite never having seen one before, Evelyn succeeded. Two decades later, this woman from the Bronx took a step that would change the office world forever.
In the late 1960s, Berezin freed thousands of secretaries from the endless task of retyping pages by creating the first true computerized word processor. In 1969, she founded Redactron Corporation, the world’s first tech startup dedicated exclusively to manufacturing and selling these machines.
Her “Data Secretary,” standing a meter tall, the width of a small refrigerator, and with no screen, looked like a distant relative of modern computers. Equipped with an IBM Selectric typewriter keyboard and printing mechanism, it could edit, copy, and paste text using 13 semiconductor chips, some of which Berezin designed herself.
For 1970s offices, this was a genuine marvel. Redactron’s devices, though loud and bulky, saved users from the tyranny of mistyped keystrokes and the monotony of retyping documents. Later models featured monitors, faster processing, and additional functions, and the company’s clients included law firms and large corporations. Over several years, Redactron sold about 10,000 machines for $8,000 each. Despite IBM quickly catching up technologically, in Redactron’s early years, Berezin herself was a queen of the young tech industry. The New York Times wrote at the time:
“Miss Berezin, a serious, soft-spoken individual, nevertheless talks at times like a systems engineer (which she is), a sales executive (which she is) and a proponent of a sophisticated product (which she is). She is also obviously a woman on the senior level of a field where her sex are still a rarity at any level.”
In 2010, British writer and entrepreneur Gwyn Headley posed a simple but poignant question: “Why is this woman not famous?” After all, she emphasized, without Evelyn Berezin, there would be no Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, no internet, no word processors or spreadsheets—none of the things that have become the heart of 21st-century business.
Her legendary “Data Secretary” is now preserved at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, a testament to the engineering courage and technical intuition that was ahead of its time.
Other Achievements and Patents
Evelyn Berezin also later created what she called the world’s first computerized airline reservation system for United Airlines. This innovative system connected customers, seat availability databases, and airline offices in 60 cities, providing a staggering response time of just one second.
While some historians credit American Airlines with developing the first experimental airline reservation system in 1960 using IBM computers and the Sabre (Semi-Automated Business Research Environment) system, journalist Kirschenbaum, in his article “Track Changes,” insisted that Berezin’s project for United Airlines preceded Sabre by at least a year. The system, created at Teleregister under her leadership, was a true breakthrough in the field of automated passenger transport.
Her contribution to technology was not limited to aviation. While at Teleregister, Berezin also helped create the first computerized banking system, which was subsequently implemented in many financial institutions. In 1960, even the New York Stock Exchange invited her for a job, but the offer was withdrawn simply because she was a woman—a fact that vividly illustrates the prejudices of the era.
From 1980 to 1987, Evelyn Berezin headed the Greenhouse Management Company, a venture capital fund that invested in early-stage high-tech startups. She later served on the boards of several technology companies and worked as a tech consultant.
Throughout her career, Berezin earned nine patents related to computer technologies, including: an information transfer apparatus, an electronic data file processor, an information transfer system, an on-line data transfer apparatus, an electrical assemblage, a data processing system, an arithmetic device, an electronic calculator with a dynamic recirculating storage register, and a control means with record sensing for an electronic calculator.
Personal Life and Recognition
In 1951, Evelyn Berezin married Dr. Israel Wilenitz, a chemical engineer. Despite their marriage, she kept her maiden name for professional purposes—a rare and bold move for a woman at the time. The couple had no children, but their union lasted 51 years until Wilenitz’s death on February 20, 2003.
Berezin outlived her husband by fifteen years. On December 8, 2018, at the age of 93, she passed away while receiving care at the Mary Manning Walsh home. According to her nephew, Marc Berezin, she had been diagnosed with lymphoma several months prior but consciously chose to forgo aggressive treatment. She had no immediate surviving family members.
During her lifetime, Berezin was honored with numerous awards:
- 2006: Inducted into the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame.
- 2011: Inducted into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame.
- Long Island Distinguished Leadership Award.
- Named one of the Top 100 Business Women in the U.S. by BusinessWeek.
- Awarded honorary doctorates from Adelphi University and Eastern Michigan University.
- 2015: Made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum for her “early work in computer design and a lifetime of entrepreneurial activity.”
- 2020: Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Evelyn Berezin’s life was a combination of personal resilience, technical intuition, and entrepreneurial courage, yet even at the end of her career, she remained for many a “hidden genius” of the digital age.