Bose's death was announced on the weekend by the company's president, Bob Maresca, and also by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Bose began his acoustic research and spent more than 45 years of his career.

In 2011, Bose donated a majority of his company to MIT in the form of non-voting shares to sustain and advance MIT’s education and research mission.

In 2007 he was listed in Forbes 400 as the 271st richest man in the world, with a net worth of $1.8 billion.

Bose founded his company, based in Framingham, just outside Boston, back in 1964, and it has since gone on to become market leaders in audio equipment, and known for its high-end branding.

Bob Maresca said in a statement the company will remain privately held.

"Dr. Bose founded Bose Corporation almost 50 years ago with a set of guiding principles centered on research and innovation," Maresca said.

"That focus has never changed."

Bose was born and raised in Philadelphia to parents who were from of India, and received his bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctorate from MIT in electrical engineering.

Bose was subsequently asked to join MIT's electrical engineering faculty in 1956, and he accepted with the intention of teaching for no more than two years, according to MIT.

He went on to be a member of the faculty until 2001.

Bose was "an extraordinarily gifted leader" according to MIT President L. Rafael Reif.

"He made quality mentoring and a joyful pursuit of excellence, ideas and possibilities the hallmark of his career in teaching, research and business," Reif said, while Bose's son Vanu G. Bose said he loved to teach.

"While my father is well known for his success as an inventor and businessman, he was first and foremost a teacher," Bose's son said.

"I could not begin to count the number of people I've met who've told me that my father was the best professor they ever had."

In a 2004 interview in Popular Science magazine, Bose said: “I would have been fired a hundred times at a company run by M.B.A.’s. But I never went into business to make money. I went into business so that I could do interesting things that hadn’t been done before.”