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Efraim “Efi” Arazi, founder and original CEO of digital imaging companies Scitex and Electronics for Imaging (EFI), died on April 14, 2013. It was his 76th birthday.
Arazi founded Scitex in Israel in 1968 to produce equipment for the graphic design, printing and publishing industries. By that point, he had already helped the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) develop a camera that would be used in 1969 by the crew of Apollo 11 to transmit live images from the moon to Earth. Scitex was one of Israel’s first high-tech companies and employed more than 4,000 people at it peak.
In 1988, Arazi founded EFI in San Francisco, Calif. The company developed Fiery, reportedly the first computer server for digital colour printing. It was quickly integrated by printer manufacturers around the world.
Both Scitex and EFI entered the super-wide-format arena, albeit after Arazi’s tenure. Scitex acquired Idanit Technologies in 1998 and rebranded it as Scitex Wide Format Printing; the business was later acquired by HP. And EFI acquired super-wide-format printer manufacturer Vutek in 2005.
