Genelec Founder Ilpo Martikainen Passes Away at Age of 69

Ilpo Martikainen, the founder of Genelec and a true pioneer in active audio monitoring, passed away on January 30, 2017, at the age of 69 after struggling with a long-term illness.

Genelec Oy

Born in 1947, Martikainen studied Applied Electronics, Digital Techniques and Acoustics in Helsinki University of Technology and received M. Sc. and D.Sc (Tech.) h.c. degrees in 1977 and 2008, respectively. Mr. Martikainen worked as Managing Director at KLT Electronics Oy from 1972 to 1977 and founded Genelec Oy in 1978, where he worked as Managing Director until 2005, and as Chairman since 2006. Martikainen had been involved in tens of speaker designs and held several patents. He was also a fellow of AES.

During the recent years, Ilpo focused on involving the next generation. His children Juho Martikainen, Mikko Martikainen and Maria Martikainen have grown up as part of the Genelec family. They have been closely involved in developing the company into the leading global brand in active audio monitoring as members of the Genelec Board since 2001. The children will continue in ownership of Genelec together with the other board members Topi Partanen and Ritva Leinonen, who have made their lifework with Genelec. Ritva Leinonen follows Ilpo as the Chairperson of Genelec Board.

In a statement, Genelec Managing Director Siamäk Naghian said: “We warmly thank Ilpo’s family for supporting him in being an essential part of our lives and journey too. 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.”

 

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