Evelyn Berezin (April 12, 1925 – December 8, 2018) was a pioneering American computer designer, engineer, and entrepreneur whose innovations laid foundational groundwork for modern office computing. She played a key role in developing some of the earliest airline reservation systems and created the first true computerized standalone word processor, the Data Secretary. In an era when women were rare in technical fields, she broke barriers as a logic designer, founded her own company, and helped transform secretarial work while advancing reliable large-scale computer systems.
Born in the Bronx, New York, to working-class Belarusian Jewish immigrant parents—her father Solomon a furrier and her mother Rose a seamstress—Berezin grew up fascinated by science and technology. She devoured her older brother’s copies of Astounding Science Fiction magazines, sparking a lifelong passion. She attended Christopher Columbus High School and, at age 16, began taking courses at Hunter College while working as a lab technician. During World War II, opportunities in science expanded for women. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from New York University in 1945 (sources vary slightly between 1945 and 1946), completed coursework toward a doctorate, and received a fellowship from the United States Atomic Energy Commission.
Despite her strong academic background, finding work in physics proved difficult in the postwar years. In 1951, a Brooklyn startup called Electronic Computer Corporation (ECC) offered her the position of head of the logic design department—even though she had no prior experience in computer design. She accepted, marking her entry into the nascent computing industry. At ECC (later acquired by the Underwood Typewriter Company), she designed various specialized computers and gained expertise in logic design and systems development. She was frequently the only woman on technical teams.
In 1957, Berezin moved to Teleregister Corporation (a division of Western Union) as head of logic design. There, she led the development of one of the largest and most significant computer systems of its time: the Reservisor (also known as the Instamatic) airline reservation system for United Airlines. This groundbreaking network connected terminals in approximately 60 cities to a central computer in Denver using transistor technology and microwave links. It delivered reservation data with roughly one-second response times and was engineered for exceptional reliability—structured so that problems could be isolated without bringing down the entire system. The central computer operated without a single shutdown for 11 years.
While at Teleregister, Berezin also contributed to early computerized banking systems. In 1960, the New York Stock Exchange reportedly offered her a senior position, only to retract it upon learning she was a woman—a stark reminder of the gender barriers she faced throughout her career.
By the late 1960s, Berezin identified a major inefficiency in office work: secretaries spent countless hours retyping entire documents for even minor corrections or revisions. Drawing on her expertise in logic design, data storage, and emerging semiconductor technology, she conceived a dedicated machine to address this. In 1968–1969, she developed the Data Secretary, widely recognized as the first computerized standalone word processor designed specifically for business and secretarial use.
The Data Secretary integrated an IBM Selectric typewriter as its input device. Text was stored on magnetic tape or similar media, allowing users to record, play back, edit, delete, cut, and paste content without retyping from scratch. It featured advanced capabilities for its time, including one of the earliest commercial uses of a microprocessor. Roughly the size of a small refrigerator and priced around $8,000 for early units, the machine represented a revolutionary shift from mechanical typewriters to electronic text processing.
To bring her invention to market, Berezin co-founded Redactron Corporation in December 1969 in Hauppauge, Long Island, with three colleagues and $750,000 in startup capital. She served as president. The company name reportedly came from her husband, who suggested “Redactron” based on “redact” (meaning to edit). Redactron began with just nine employees and shipped its first Data Secretary units in September 1971. The company grew rapidly, reaching nearly 500 employees and generating about $16.2 million in revenue by 1974. Berezin marketed the product aggressively, including an advertisement in Ms. magazine that promoted “Free the Secretary” buttons and stickers, highlighting how the machine could liberate women from repetitive drudgery and open new career paths.
In 1976, Redactron was sold to the Burroughs Corporation. Berezin joined Burroughs as president of its Redactron division, a role she held until 1980. The Data Secretary helped spark the word-processing revolution; while later machines from companies like Wang Laboratories and IBM would dominate the market with screen-based systems, Berezin’s innovation proved the viability and demand for computerized text editing in offices worldwide.
In her personal life, Berezin married chemical engineer Israel Wilenitz in December 1951. The couple remained together for 51 years until his death in February 2003; they had no children. She kept her maiden name professionally. After leaving Burroughs, she worked in venture capital and served on the boards of several public companies, including CIGNA, Koppers Co., Datapoint, and Standard Microsystems. She was also a dedicated philanthropist, supporting Stony Brook University alongside her husband through endowments, including one for the linguistics department.
Berezin received numerous honors for her contributions. These include induction into the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame (2006), the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame (2011), fellowship in the Computer History Museum (2015) “for her early work in computer design and a lifetime of entrepreneurial activity,” and induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2022). She held at least 13 U.S. patents related to data processing, calculators, and information transfer systems. She was also named one of BusinessWeek’s Top 100 Business Women in the United States in 1976—the only woman featured as president of a technology company at the time.
Evelyn Berezin died on December 8, 2018, at age 93 in Manhattan after a diagnosis of lymphoma, which she chose not to treat aggressively. Her nephew Marc Berezin confirmed the details.
Today, when anyone edits a document on a computer, deletes a paragraph, or searches for a flight online, they benefit—directly or indirectly—from the foundational work of pioneers like Evelyn Berezin. Her story exemplifies technical ingenuity, entrepreneurial courage, and quiet persistence against systemic barriers. As one of the few women leading in mid-20th-century computing, she not only built reliable systems that powered critical industries but also created tools that fundamentally improved productivity and quality of work for millions of office professionals. Her legacy endures in the history of computing as a testament to vision and determination.