(Reuters) -Printer maker Xerox (NASDAQ:XRX) Holdings Corp said on Wednesday Chief Executive Officer John Visentin, 59, has died due to complications from an ongoing illness.
Xerox called Visentin's death unexpected and said it has named Steve Bandrowczak, president and chief operations officer, as interim CEO.
Visentin, who was also the vice chairman, joined Xerox as its CEO in May 2018 after he was nominated by Carl Icahn. The activist investor's firm is the biggest shareholder of the company, according to Refinitiv data.
Prior to that, Visentin had been hired as a consultant by Icahn to assist in his campaign against Xerox, when he pushed the company to explore strategic alternatives.
Visentin was also at the helm of the company when it failed at its $35 billion hostile takeover attempt of HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ), a merger which Icahn had pushed for in 2020.
In the same year, Xerox, which has been facing a slowdown in demand as businesses cut down on printing their paperwork, laid out a three-year cost-cutting plan under Visentin.