Michihiro Yamaki, Founder Chairman and CEO of Tokyo based Sigma Corporation, died last month, after a long battle with liver cancer.
He was 78. Michihiro Yamaki founded the lens manufacturing company in September, 1961 at the age of 27, bringing out the industry’s first-ever rear attached lens converter, craved by most photo enthusiasts at that time. The company changed the corporate name to Sigma Corporation in 1970, and provided numerous interchangeable lens products to the world market. The company established subsidiaries in Germany in 1979, and in USA in 1986, the two largest photo markets. Yamaki expanded the global marketing bases by integrating marketing arms in Benelux, Singapore, France and U.K, but kept the production bases in Japan.
We, at Smart Photography, pray that his soul rests in peace.