A familiar name in the contract furnishings world, David Austin Murray of Westport, died Jan. 15. He was 74.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Greenwich, he was an award-winning corporate and industrial designer with more than 40 years experience in designing iconic office environments.

He was also an inventor and founder of patented “UnCubed,” an avant guard manufacturer of contemporary, technology-centered office furniture.

“Over the years, I realized that rectangular furniture actually inhibited collaboration, leading to an new direction for office furniture and a new personal direction,” he once explained.

He initially assumed management of Murray Office Interiors, an office furniture firm started by his father, Henry “Ked” Murray.

He subsequently founded the award-winning design firm, Working Spaces. Later, he developed, and received a U.S. patent for a “diagonal desk.”

Based on mathematical principles, the unique desk allows collaboration around the computer. Thus was born his Edesk company (http://www.edesk.us).

The design change created some radical differences. The user and guest went from being 2.5 feet apart to being 2 feet apart. While that might not seem like much, it is a world of difference when it comes to an office space that might be as small as 6 feet by 6 feet.

"Immediately, from the start, it struck a very comfortable note," Murray said. "My son came home from college and said, 'Dad quit your day job. This is going to change the industry.'"

He said he had a "overwhelming feeling" that orienting an office on a diagonal line would work better than any office shape. "I had a real ah-ha moment because whenever I drew a line perpendicular to the wall, there was a point that I felt I needed to bring that line back to the user," Murray said. "At first I changed a perpendicular line to a curve. Then, instead of doing that, I started with a slashing line that followed the diagonal shape of the room."

David’s son recently called his father “the richest man I know,” referencing the large family and community of friends who held him dear. They would stress his gentle nature, his corny sense of humor, his facile intellect, and the love he showed them.

Last August, he was diagnosed with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. He called his illness a gift, based on the closeness it engendered between him and his family.

Interviewed in 2015 Murray considered those buying his unconventional products the same way he does the early acolytes at Apple — people who don't want to follow the status quo and understand innovation when they see it. From an economic standpoint, he saw unCUBED a bit like the organic food industry: Slow to take off, but ubiquitous once it reaches its tipping point.

"I can say that everybody will be doing this in the next 10 years," he said. "Our future is fairly bright. I can't tell you now, but there's going to be some huge changes about how office furniture looks and works and is going to be manufactured. We are really positioned well to move toward this new technology. The only thing I've been consistent about this business is that I've had a vision and the vision has been accurate all this time."

His survivors include wife Deborah Howland-Murray, a well known portrait artist, illustrator, and children’s author, and children Megan, Ariel, Rachael, Sara, and Galen of Westport.

There will be a memorial service Saturday, Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. at Mead School, 1095 Riverbank Road, Stamford.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, a contribution be made to http://www.panfoundation.org, an organization that helps defray the prohibitive cost of life-saving drugs for underinsured patients; http://www.kidneycancer.org; or leave a contribution towards a bench and commemorative plaque for his favorite place, Winslow dog park. A receptacle will be provided in the memorial reception area.