Ray Milton Dolby, OBE (January 18, 1933 " September 12, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor of the noise reduction system known as Dolby NR. He was also a co-inventor of video tape recording while at Ampex. He was the founder of Dolby Laboratories. He was also a billionaire and a member of the Forbes 400 with an estimated net worth of US$2.9 billion in 2008 although as of September 2012 it was estimated to have declined to $2.4 billion.