Theodore Steven Jako

Statesboro

Theodore Jako, 75, born Tarrytown, NY, passed away peacefully at his home in Statesboro, GA on Saturday, May 30th after a 10 year battle with lung cancer & 2 year battle with renal failure.  Ted previously resided in of Lake Worth, FL and Naples, FL.  He graduated from the RCA Technical School in Camden, New Jersey and later worked as chief engineer at St. John's University.   In 1976 he left St. John's for other opportunities to work as a cameraman and sound technician for NBC in New York, then on to Cablevision in the late 1970’s.  At Cablevision Ted was responsible for approving all new technology and equipment purchases and led the team that built Cablevision’s first TV production studios and its subsidiary, Rainbow Network Communication’s first broadcast center on Long Island .

In the early 90’s Ted joined the team at Interlink in NY and began the final chapter in his long and influential career and the one that would prove the most rewarding.  The Berlin wall fell in 1989 and the free world challenged the former communist nations of Eastern Europe to prove their democratic intentions by licensing national television frequencies to independent, private companies.  The new TV networks were required to create Western style channels marked by free speech, impartial global news and entertainment.  Ted helped lead the engineering team and he will be dearly remembered by his colleagues and the many friends he made in many countries.  Ted played a crucial role in the design and launch of a half dozen new, national TV networks that continue today to dominate their markets in bringing news and information to hundreds of millions of people in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Hungary. Ted also helped manage the re-design and construction of a new TV facility dedicated to local production for the Queens, NY based QPTV.  He worked on numerous other projects as well. In 2013, he was inducted into St. John’s University WRED-TV Hall of Fame, one of his greatest milestones, surrounded by his colleagues & family.  He was also active in the American Hungarian clubs in Naples, FL and Lake Worth, FL and had a great passion for travel.

He is survived by his loving wife, Kathy Tufo Jako of Statesboro, Ga (formally of Boynton Beach, FL); beloved sister Judy Butler & Curt Butler of Naples Fl; loving niece, Liz Burney of Lyndhurst NJ;  loving nephew, George Burney of Estero, Fl; step-father to Jodi Caldwell, Bryan Caldwell, Becky Richardson and loving “Poppy” to 5 step-grandchildren.

Donations in his honor may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital and Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital.

Graveside Service will be held on August 14, 2015 at 1:30 pm at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, NY.

Low Country Cremation Services and Burial is serving the Jako family.