Figures from the facilities and equipment sectors have paid tribute to Tyrell Corporation founder Stephen Paine who died at the end of last month at his home in Thailand.

Avid Pro Audio sales manager for EMEA North Ben Nemes was handed his first job in in Soho by Paine and described him as an “extraordinary entrepreneur”.

Paine launched reseller Syco Systems in the 1980s before setting up another reseller, Tyrell, in 1992 with co-founder Nigel Scott.

After the company was sold to WPP in 1998, Paine moved to Los Angeles where he was involved in the sale of software compositor Shake developer Nothing Real to Apple. He then moved to Phuket in Thailand where he became involved in the development of luxury villas.

Former Tyrell colleague and the managing director of XTFX James Hamilton-Hislop said: “Stephen was a very insightful person whose intelligence and foresight shaped the industry we work in today.

“His ideas were ahead of their time and his influence is seen all around us today. Equally, his humour was always a delight and the memories of working with Stephen will stay with me always and I am certain his influence will be felt into the future.”

DIA chief executive David Brady added: “Stephen touched many lives in our industry and was very well known by the manufactures, resellers and post houses. He was a great guy and a mentor and friend to many. Stephen really helped me with my early career and then inspired me to do what I am doing today.”

Stephen Paine: Ben Nemes remembers

My first experience of Soho was my first ‘real’ job interview aged 21, with Stephen, in Tyrell’s sweltering Great Marlborough Street office on a hot June day in 1995.

I wore a suit. Yeah, I know now.

There he was, shirt, shades, shorts and sandals.

Despite being wrong-footed (his beach-club chic belied a fierce, intense intellect) I somehow blagged the job. It wasn’t the one I’d applied for admittedly, but it was a job.

One’s first real job is a formative time in your career - life even - and I was lucky enough to have a boss, a mentor, a legendary audio technologist and a friend in Stephen. 

An extraordinary entrepreneur, gregarious and inspiring, Stephen carried himself with panache like nobody I’d met before or have met since. 

Stephen was sorely missed since moving to Thailand; we were able to have a beer together only a few times in recent years. That existing sense of loss is now all the more acute. 

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