Zachary Tyler, CEO of Creative Marketing Concepts (CMC, asi/170631) in San Francisco, CA, has passed away, the company announced this week. He was 33.

In a letter sent to industry companies on May 23, CMC’s new CEO Mick Hawk said that Tyler’s passing was “sudden and unexpected.” He added: “We won’t be advised of his cause of death for several months. What we do know is he died peacefully at home and foul play was ruled out.”

Tyler joined CMC 14 years ago and went on to hold every sales job at the firm. The company’s top performing rep, Tyler purchased a majority stake in CMC in 2013. Under his leadership, CMC more than doubled its revenues and expanded its reach from the Bay Area to all 50 states as well as Europe, where CMC has a joint venture in Prague.

“Zachary was an utterly original and brilliant character whose leadership and friendship will be profoundly missed,” said Hawk. “My objective is clear: to carry on delivering the service and partnership you’ve come to expect from CMC, led by our exceptionally gifted management team. In fact, these executives assumed greater day-to-day leadership responsibility in January this year as Zachary refocused his efforts on new business development that involved significant international travel.”

Gustavo Llamas, vice president of human resources at CMC, told Counselor that a “celebration of life” is being planned for Tyler. CMC has asked those honoring Tyler’s memory to support any of the three charities he loved: Best Buddies, The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County and The California Innocence Project.