The tech community mourns today. One of the first brave souls to have changed how the world looks at virtualization is found lifeless in his Long Island home, in what could be a suspected suicide episode. A single shot in the chest killed Reijane Huai, former CEO and founder of FalconStor. Authorities are still in the process of conducting series of investigations to unveil the mystery of the tech millionaire’s death.

The past year has been tough for Huai, facing a series of trading probes and charges.

Huai’s Resignation as FalconStor CEO

We’ve been following FalconStor as it treads the virtualization path, chronicling its journey as one of the industry’s leaders.  It was around this same time last year when Huai stepped down as the organization’s CEO, chairman and president.  A string of controversies and class-action lawsuits followed thereafter.

The official statement from FalconStor mentioned an on-going investigation on improper payments, noting, “Mr. Huai tendered his resignation following his disclosure that certain improper payments were allegedly made in connection with the Company’s contract with one customer.”

FalconStor and Its Market Leadership

Cloud visionary James McNiel, who was formerly FalconStor’s chief strategy officer, assumed the interim-CEO position succeeding Huai’s resignation.  But only four months later McNiel was officially elected as FalconStor’s new President and CEO. From then on, the cloud data protection solutions provider soared to new heights.

Under McNiel’s leadership, FalconStor saw several developments including the launch of RecoverTrac that boosted the company’s backup and recovery portfolio.  This happened barely a month after his official installation as the new chief.  In April, FalconStor announced their promising 1^st quarter earnings and recorded impressive growth amidst economic declines globally.  A month after, they added two new VP’s to fuel their growth in technical support and software delivery.  Around the middle of the third quarter this year, the company upgraded its storage virtualization suite and data protection solutions via Version 7. In September, McNiel was named as one of the top 10 executives at VMWorld 2011.

FalconStor’s formidable line-up to soothe cloud “backup pains” has made them one of the most respected brands in the market.  McNiel has been a keen and strong trailblazer. But whatever scandals Huai has gone through in his lifetime, we have to pay credit to his vision that gave birth to FalconStor in New York eleven years ago.