Frank Lanza, chairman and CEO of L-3 Communications, died June 6, the company announced. Lanza was recovering from an April surgical procedure, but doctors had said his recovery was proceeding satisfactorily.

Lanza joined Loral Corp. in 1972 as president of Loral Electronic Systems and served as president and COO of Loral from 1981 to 1996. In 1996, he became executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Corp. and president and COO of Lockheed Martin’s C3I and Systems Integration Sector, which contained many Loral business that were combined with Lockheed Martin. He co-founded L-3 in 1997.

“There is no question that Frank Lanza has been one of the most visionary business leaders in the defense industry,” Robert Millard, lead director of the L-3’s board, said in a statement. “Frank worked to build Loral into a leading defense firm. Frank went on to co-found L-3, the fastest-growing high technology defense company in the world by acquiring a number of small and large businesses that he transformed into leaders in their niche markets.”