Donald 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.

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 in command of the second platoon of 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). 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. Captured at the same time as Prell, was Richard Bordeaux Parker, who commanded the first platoon of the Anti-Tank Company.

After the war, he resumed undergraduate studies at UCLA and graduated in 1948. While at UCLA, he was an active member of the American Veterans Committee. Prell was a Ph.D. candidate in Psychology with Hans Eysenck’s Program Research Team at the University of London from 1948-1951. It was here that he learned to use Hollerith punched card tabulation machines, the forerunner of today’s digital computers.

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