Laurer was a former IBM engineer. His invention of the Universal Product Code at IBM transformed retail and other industries around the world.
A funeral was held on Monday for Laurer, who died Thursday, December 5, at his home in Wendell, North Carolina.
Laurer was an electrical engineer with IBM in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park in the early 1970s when he spearheaded the development of the UPC, or bar code.
The now-ubiquitous marking, composed of unique black bars and a 12-digit number, allowed retailers to identify products and their prices as they are scanned, usually at checkout.