Ray Dolby, pioneering audio master was 80

The sound pioneer and inventor whose name—Dolby—became  synonymous with his breakthrough engineering to enhance the quality of sound and dialogue recordings and whose Dolby Laboratories remains an industry force, died last night at his home in San Francisco. He was 80. Dolby suffered from Alzheimer’s disease that in recent months was complicated by a diagnosis of acute leukemia. Oscar-winning film and sound editor Walter Murch said of him last year: “You could divide film sound in half: there is BD, before Dolby, and there is AD, after Dolby.” Obits: LA Times; Chronicle