Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×

Wireless Remote Inventor Polley Dies At 96

Chicago – Eugene J. Polley, who invented
the first wireless remote control for television while working for Zenith, died
yesterday at 96.

Polley died of natural causes in Advocate
Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove, Ill.

He started his career with Zenith Radio
Corporation (now Zenith Electronics, a subsidiary of LG Electronics) in 1935.
His 47-year engineering career spanned the pioneering days of radio,
black-and-white television and color TV.

His inventions, primarily in the field of
television, earned 18 U.S. patents. Polley’s best-known invention, the
Flash-Matic remote control, was the world’s first wireless TV remote,
introduced in 1955. It used a flashlight-like device to activate photo cells on
the television set to change channels.

Polley worked his way up from the stockroom
to the parts department, where he produced Zenith’s first catalog, and then on
to his long career in the engineering department.

During World War II, as part of Zenith’s
commitment to the war effort, Polley worked on radar advances for the U.S.
Department of Defense. He also worked on the push-button radio for automobiles
and on the development of the video disk, predecessor of today’s DVD.

Over the years, Polley held key technology
positions at Zenith, including product engineer, mechanical engineer, head of
the video recording group, head of the advanced mechanical design group and was
assistant division chief for the mechanical engineering group.

Polley was the 2009 recipient of the Masaru
Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award from the Institute of Electronic and
Electrical Engineers. Polley and fellow Zenith engineer Robert Adler were
honored in 1997 with an Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences for Pioneering Development of Wireless Remote Controls for
Consumer Television.

Polley was born in Chicago on Nov. 29,
1915. He attended the City Colleges of Chicago and Armour Institute. He was a
longtime resident of Lombard, Ill., where he was active in village government,
serving as a member of the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals for 34 years.

He is survived by his son, Eugene J. Polley
Jr., and grandson, Aaron, of San Diego. He was preceded in death by his wife,
Blanche, and daughter, Joan Polley.

Visitation will be held May 22, 5 p.m. to 8
p.m., Brust Funeral Home, Lombard, Ill. A funeral mass will be held May 23 at
10 a.m., Sacred Heart Church, Lombard, followed by internment at Assumption
Cemetery in Wheaton, Ill.

Featured

Close