Stephen Tidik; Helped Make the First Television Tubes

Longtime Newbury Park resident Stephen Tidik died Saturday at Los Robles Regional Medical Center after battling heart troubles for several years. He was 79.

Tidik was born Dec. 8, 1919, in Czechoslovakia. At age 8, he moved with his family to Pennsylvania.

He attended grade school and high school in New Jersey and then went to St. Anselm’s Catholic College in Manchester, N.H., on a football scholarship. He graduated with a degree in chemistry.

After college, Tidik worked for the Allen B. Dumont Laboratory in Clifton, N.J., where he helped invent the cathode-ray tube, a vacuum tube in which streams of electrons can be focused on a fluorescent screen, producing lighted traces. The tubes were used in televisions.

In 1951, Tidik moved to Redondo Beach, where he owned a manufacturing company that made the tubes. He also lived with his wife and children in San Jose, Thousand Oaks and Dallas before settling in Newbury Park about 30 years ago.

Tidik had been an avid golfer and a member of various Knights of Columbus councils. He enjoyed bridge and football and also attended Catholic church services.

Tidik is survived by his wife, Edna Tidik of Newbury Park; two sons, Edward Tidik of Boulder, Colo., and Nicholas Tidik of Newbury Park; a daughter, Margaret Mary Tidik of Camarillo; a brother, Nicholas Tidik of Burbank; and two grandchildren.

Pierce Bros. Griffin Mortuary in Thousand Oaks is handling the arrangements.