Troxel and fellow professors Samuel Mason and William Schreiber – all PhDs from Massachusetts Institute of Technology – as well as Melvin Fennell from AP, developed the first commercially successful OCR machine for newspapers in 1969.

He was instrumental in the development of many ECRM products including the Autokon laser-based camera, scanners, filmsetters and platesetters.

After gaining a degree in electrical engineering from Rutgers University in 1956, he moved to MIT where he remained, retiring as Professor Emeritus in July 2004. His early research concerned with tactile communications and sensory aids for the blind, but from 1968 he turned his attention to digital systems design and image processing, including bandwidth compression, enhancement and graphic arts applications. He was principal investigator with both the electronics research laboratory and microsystems technology laboratories.

“Don was proud of his involvement with ECRM and was an integral part of creative thinking and innovative design at the company”, Rick Black, ECRM president and chief executive says. “He was an outstanding mentor for our engineering staff, always challenging us to create the best, the most efficient, and most useful and valuable products.”