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Del Mar’s Marty Cooper Invented Cell Phone in 1973
Currently, the earth has 7 billion humans and well over 5 billion cell phones. Teenagers certainly couldn’t imagine life without cell phones, but it wasn’t that long ago that cell phones had not been invented and the idea of the cell phone was in the realm of science fiction.
One man instrumental in the development of the cell phone is Del Mar resident Martin Cooper, known as the “Father of the Cell Phone.” He is a nationally known inventor/entrepreneur, holding a number of patents and receiving many prestigious awards for his work. He is a sought-after speaker and consultant and has received local and national press coverage including a CBS 60 Minutes segment last year.
Wife is Heavyweight in a Man’s World
Marty is only one-half of a “power couple,” having been married to Arlene Harris for 32 years.
Arlene is a major player in the wireless business in her own right. Arlene has founded a number of wireless companies and also holds several patents. She became the first woman ever inducted into the RCR Wireless News Hall of Fame in 2007.
Arlene’s contributions include innovations in the automation of managing paging as well as mobile telephone and cellular businesses in the fledgling wireless industries. Later she founded SOS Wireless, a cellular service for emergencies, and most recently launched the Jitterbug phone in 2006 in partnership with Samsung. Past inductees in the Hall of Fame include Irwin Jacobs, cofounder of San Diego’s Qualcomm Company.
Marty Cooper, at home in Del Mar, is still active in telecommunications and has adopted what he calls his “Del Mar Uniform” – shorts and sandals.
“Wild & Crazy” Idea
In 1973, Marty along with his team at Motorola, demonstrated the first hand-held cell phone on the streets of New York City. The invention was Marty’s big idea; some thought he was tilting at windmills. Prior to the cell phone, radio car phones allowed the caller to be connected by radio transmission to a telephone operator who would then connect you.
AT&T’s researchers were concentrating on improving the car phone while Marty’s team was convinced that a different kind of telephone was the future—a personal telephone that could go with you as you went through your day from home to office and back again.
The choice of the personal telephone seems obvious now but, at the time, the idea was a “wild and crazy idea” that flew in the face of the largest telephone company’s research and vision.
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The wireless power couple with their inventions. Marty’s first cell phone was invented in 1973 while Arlene’s Jitterbug phone was launched in 2006.
The Roots to Success
Marty was born in Chicago, the son of Ukrainian immigrants who taught him the importance of education and reading. After completing a degree in engineering, he spent 3½ years in the Navy, which included working as a submarine officer.
After that, Marty started his career in the telecommunications industry, first with Teletype, a subsidiary of the Bell system, but then spent 29 years at Motorola, eventually holding the position of vice president and director of research and development. After leaving Motorola, he and Arlene have been “serial entrepreneurs” starting and selling several companies.
Arlene has deep roots in Southern California. Her family owned a radio telephone company in Los Angeles and several times a year would drive down to Ensenada and, often stopping in San Diego. Her parents eventually bought a place in Del Mar that would later attract Marty and Arlene to put down roots in Del Mar where they bought a house on the beach in 1980.
Marty is now 82 years old but looks younger and acts much younger. He credits his amazing level of energy to his mother. He offers the advice “that the secret of successful aging is to have good genes and to show a lot of respect for the genes.” Vail, Colorado is a favorite getaway spot where he is known to ski the slopes, with Arlene trying to keep up with him even though Arlene is nearly 20 years younger.
Cell Phones Are Here to Stay
Though younger people can’t imagine life without a cell phone, the older folks among us remember life without the cell phone and often complain—confusing buttons and menus, the dropped calls, bad reception, and even resentment about the intrusion of the cell phone into our lives.
However, in my interview with Marty, he looked at me with a somewhat bemused but confident look and asked, “Would you give it up?” With barely a pause, I had to answer that, “No, I would never give it up!”
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