* Elmer Baum; Helped Start Apple Computer

Elmer Baum, 75, who helped start Apple Computer Inc. with a $5,000 personal loan. He lent the money to Apple founders Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs in the mid-1970s for the Apple I computer board. The Apple II came out in 1977 and the company took off, and Baum joined Apple as an engineer soon after. The two young entrepreneurs were friends of Baum’s son, Allen. “The $5,000 from him really was what allowed us to build the Apple I,� said Wozniak. “Without that, we wouldn’t have made it,� said Jobs. Baum had previously worked at ITT Corp. and SRI International. During World War II, he designed communications equipment for the Army Signal Corps. In Cupertino, Calif., on Saturday of kidney failure.