Troxel founded ECRM in 1969 along with professors Samuel J Mason and William Schreiber, and Melvin Fennell from The Associated Press and produced the first commercially successful OCR machine for use within the newspaper industry.

Troxel went on to develop the Autokon laser-based camera, scanners, film setters and plate setters and his academic career brought him a professorship at the EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) Department at MIT. He retired as Professor Emeritus in July 2004.

ECRM chief executive Rick Black said: "Don was proud of his involvement with ECRM and was an integral part of creative thinking and innovative design at the company. He was an outstanding mentor for our engineering staff, always challenging us to create the best, the most efficient, and most useful and valuable products."

Troxel is survived by his wife Eileen and three children, Gregory and Andrea Troxel and Jocelyn Milton.