FINLAND—Ilpo Martikainen passed away on Jan. 30 from an undisclosed long-term illness; he was 69. Genelec, the company that Martikainen founded, announced his passing in a post on its website.

Ilpo Martikainen

Martikainen’s children—Juho Martikainen, Mikko Martikainen, and Maria Martikainen—who have served on Genelec’s board since 2001, will continue to do so along with Topi Partanen and Ritva Leinonen, who serves as the board’s chairperson.

“We warmly thank Ilpo’s family for supporting him in being an essential part of our lives and journey too,” read Genelec’s post. “We hope the whole audio and music industry will join us in extending thoughts and prayers to his family.

“Even if we greatly miss Ilpo we are privileged and grateful to share in the wonderful memories, passion, humanistic values, love and evolution of the Genelec story that we have experienced with Ilpo. This keeps his memory living in our hearts and deeds. He will continue to live on, through us.”