People

Longtime SMPTE NY Member and Active Contributor Matthew Brennensholtz Passes

Posted 8-12-2020

Sad News  

Just yesterday, we heard the sad news of the sudden death of one of our main Display Daily contributors and friends, Matthew (Matt) S Brennesholtz. He died at home while preparing for one of his favourite pastimes, a bike ride around the area of Pleasantville, New York where he lived. Our thoughts are with his family, who are also struggling with the after effects of Tropical Storm Isaias.

I'm not sure when I first met Matt, but it must have been in the press room of Infocomm or SID or at one of Insight Media's Summit events some fifteen or twenty years ago.

After I heard the news, I received a number of comments from friends and colleagues of Matt and they capture the man I knew, who loved his family, his home and the technology around us. He often strayed away from our core topic of displays, but when I saw he had posted a new article, on technology, or a report from one of the events that he often attended in the city, I knew I would enjoy it and learn something useful. It was also a pleasure, too, to see him when we were covering events together (such as ISE or SID). (BR)

"I worked with Matt when he started with Philips. He told us that he was lieutenant in the Navy and flew a Helicopter. I think he worked out of the San Diego Navy Base and he had one or two houses there. The He was a graduate of Cornell. His supervisor at Philips/GTE Sylvania was Rod  Vogel in the Color Measurements group. Matt also headed up one of the JEDEC groups on Color Measurements. Matt was in charge of the vacuum coating lab in Seneca Falls in fabricating UV filters for the photo lithography used in the making of the color CRT. Towards the end of his time with Philips, he worked on Phosphor aging and multilayer coating. He came up with the various cam designs that we were using in our electron beam high vac coaters to improve the uniformity of the multi-layer films. We were coating the inside of the panel used for special projection tubes. I think the following sequence is right.  He then worked for GE in Syracuse on their Eidophor projection system and then at Braircliff labs of Philips on Projection TV and co-authored the SID book on Projection TV." Bob Donofrio

"In later life, Matt became a very good analyst and writer and was a great asset to the Insight Media and Display Daily family.  His keen intellect, probing questions, passion for technology and folky writing style made his contributions a must read.  Nothing fazed Matt and he was also easy to be around.  I am so saddened by his passing as he was a friend who will be greatly missed." Chris Chinnock

"Matt was a friend and colleague over many years, as well as being one of the world's foremost experts on projection displays.  When asked if he knew much about projectors, he would say with a grin, "I wrote the book on them."  And he had.  (Projection Displays, 2nd ed., Wiley/SID, 2008.) 
Matt wrote many articles and opinion pieces over the years, notably for Display Daily.  His writing combined technical authority with great readability, and he frequently provided insight and perspective that cut through the hype and distortion on topics of current interest. 
Matt was generous in responding to my questions with thoughtful answers and he didn't hesitate to correct my errors, which he always did in a spirit of collegial support.  I'll miss him.  I do already." Ken Werner

"Matt was a walking encyclopedia when it came to imaging technology; in particular, projectors. I relied on him more than once to find answers to obscure technical questions, and his 2008 tome on projection displays was a well-worn reference. He was quick to spot errors in my posts for Display Daily and query or correct them. (Fortunately, I didn't make too many, knowing that he was scrutinizing my work.)
We would inevitably bump into each other at CES, InfoComm, or one of the Digital Experience shows and regional trade shows, and trade notes on what we saw. It was a rare occasion when Matt would ask me a question about some aspect of displays, signal interfacing, and video compression! A true "old school" old soul, Matt took particular pleasure in telling me that he only used a flip phone and still wrote checks to pay his bills. He was an avid cyclist and also a bit of a transportation history buff...in other words, a well-rounded man of accomplishments. He will be missed." Pete Putman.

Link to the funeral home's obituary and memory wall where you can leave condolensces