Lauer was 62 and died at his home in California on Sunday (12 April).

Memjet paid tribute to Lauer’s clear and steady leadership and exceptional business acumen, and said that his “competitive spirit and strong family values drove his success in building teams, partnerships and industries”.

Lauer had spent 30 years working at technology businesses including Sprint, Bell Atlantic and IBM. He became CEO of Memjet a decade ago.

Speaking on behalf of the San Diego-headquartered firm’s board and employees, Memjet group president for R&D and operations Tony Duddy said: “An outstanding leader, visionary, and champion for high-quality, innovative digital printing technology for all markets, Len was a tireless advocate for Memjet technology, our employees, and for delivering beautiful precision to the OEM partnership communities we serve as and their customers.

“Most importantly, Len was a devoted husband, father, and friend. We all will miss his tremendous presence in our lives.”

Duddy extended his deepest sympathy to Lauer’s family on behalf of the business.

Lauer’s wife Beth commented: “Our family has always been inspired by Len’s passion for Memjet and the work of the Memjet team. Len was proud of the strong culture at Memjet.”

Memjet has appointed Sunil Gupta to take over as CEO with immediate effect.

Gupta (pictured below) joined the firm’s board at the beginning of last year. Prior to that he held leadership roles at Fuji Xerox, Xerox Industrial Partners and Xerox.

“With the full confidence of the Memjet board of directors and its senior leadership team, Gupta will carry on Lauer’s legacy of courage, collaboration, and commitment to all stakeholders,” Memjet said in statement.

Memjet’s high-speed inkjet technology is used by a large number of OEM partners including Canon, Quadient, Colordyne and Konica Minolta/MGI. Its systems are used for a wide range of applications from commercial and label printing to mailing and addressing, packaging and wide-format.