CHESEAUX-SUR-LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Kudelski Group issued the following release this week:

The Kudelski Group is deeply saddened to announce that Mr. Stefan Kudelski, 84 years old, passed away on Jan. 26 2013. Founder of the Kudelski Group in 1951, Stefan Kudelski invented the first portable professional recorder, the renowned “Nagra,” which is still today one of the most recognized brands in the sound recording domain.

Stefan Kudelski led the company since its foundation and until 1991, when his son André succeeded as chairman and CEO. Stefan Kudelski was a member of the board of directors of Kudelski SA until 2006, and since then served as its honorary chairman.

An exceptional inventor and a pioneer, Stefan Kudelski revolutionized the world of sound recording by developing a range of world-renowned recorders used in the radio, motion picture, television and security industries.

In 1983, he entered the hall of fame of motion picture and television by receiving the John Grierson International Gold Medal, joining luminaries of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers that include Louis Lumière, Thomas Edison, Lee de Forest, George Eastman, Walt Disney, Samuel Warner, Léon Gaumont, Ray Dolby and Vladimir Zworkyin.
In the course of his career, he was awarded numerous distinctions among which Oscars from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1965, 1977, 1978 and 1990, two Emmy Awards from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1984 and 1986. He was also Doctor Honoris Causa from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) since 1986.

“Stefan Kudelski was one of those personalities who contributed to the international reputation of Switzerland. Anyone who knew him could only be impressed by his sharpness, his incredible culture, his curiosity and his permanent sense of humor. Stefan Kudelski was more than a brilliant inventor; he was a man of values, a fine mind that will live on with us for a long time,” said Claude Smadja, vice chairman of the board of directors of Kudelski SA.

André Kudelski added, “With the loss of Stefan Kudelski, our Group will miss its founder and the inventor of the Nagra recorder. Stefan Kudelski defined our Group. The values he stood for form the foundation of our company and its reputation today across the five continents. Among those values, the determination to demonstrate that technological challenges described as impossible are always successfully achieved by teams that know no boundaries.”