EFI's Founder Passes Away at 76

The founder and first CEO of EFI, Efraim “Efi” Arazi, died Sunday on his 76th birthday. Arazi created his namesake company in 1988 after a pioneering, 20-year career as the founder, president and CEO of the first Israeli high-tech firm, Scitex Corp.

Arazi served as chairman, president and CEO of Electronics for Imaging (EFI) from 1988 until 1994, guiding the business from modest beginnings, with 18 employees in North Beach, San Francisco. Under his leadership and technical guidance, EFI launched Fiery, the printing industry’s first color server, in 1991. The product was an immediate success, leading to significant OEM partner contracts with the world’s leading color printer manufacturers. Arazi completed an initial public offering for EFI in 1992. In 1994, Fortune magazine named EFI the nation’s fastest-growing public company.