Shapp, Milton J. (Milton Jerrold), 1912-1994

Milton Jerrold Shapp (June 25, 1912 – November 24, 1994) was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 40th Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979. He was the state's first Jewish governor.

Born Milton Jerrold Shapiro in Cleveland, Ohio, he earned a degree in engineering from the Case School of Applied Science. Shapp worked as a coal truck driver before moving to Pennsylvania to sell electronic parts. It was during this time that he changed his name from Shapiro to Shapp to avoid prejudice, even though he continued to identify openly as being Jewish. During World War II, Shapp served as an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in North Africa and Europe. After World War II, he moved to Philadelphia and founded Jerrold Electronics Corporation, a pioneer in the cable television industry, using a $500 loan subsidized by the G.I. Bill. Jerrold became one of America's first providers of coaxial cable TV systems in 1948. Jerrold Electronics became a major player in the television industry, and Shapp himself amassed a multimillion-dollar fortune. Shapp sold his interest in Jerrold Electronics in 1967 to the General Instrument Company to concentrate on politics. The Jerrold name, however, continued to survive on cable TV reception equipment into the 1990s when it became obsolete when General Instrument (which acquired Jerrold in the interim) went out of business in 1997.

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