Leon Zanger, one of the founders of the storied American stone and tile design resource, Walker Zanger, has died at the age of 93 due to complications of COVID-19.

Born in Belgium, Zanger and his family fled Europe during the 1940 German invasions and immigrated to the U.S. when he was 12 years old. Before the family arrived in the U.S., they settled in Portugal for a few years, where Zanger watched in awe as workers paved the streets with marble. This first experience with this extraordinary material—which Zanger had only seen used at museums and palaces of Belgium—never left his mind. It would lead to the Walker Zanger brand’s inspired beginnings.