In 1962, while an engineer at RCA in Camden, Mr. Shashoua developed an electronic machine for setting Chinese type. The device was a "revolutionary change" from setting Chinese type by hand from more than 5,000 characters, according to a New York Times account at the time.

Mr. Shashoua's patented invention used fiber optics and television techniques to reproduce the characters rapidly on film, then transfer them to lithograph plates for offset printing.

The machine could create 10,000 characters from 21 basic horizontal, vertical, and curved strokes, and 20 complete symbols such as circles, squares, and triangles. The same technology was used for Korean- and Japanese-language typesetting machines.

Though RCA had an Army contract to develop the Chinese typesetter, Mr. Shashoua's invention also had economic and cultural benefits, his daughter Linda said.

Mr. Shashoua also developed magnetic-tape systems for the company, which he had joined in 1956. The technology allowed RCA to broadcast the 1961 inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in England before the BBC did, his daughter said. Mr. Shashoua's work also led to refinements in home videocassette recorders.

Her father was always trying to improve televisions, Linda Shashoua said. There were nine sets in the basement when she was growing up, a curiosity to her friends, who knew that Mr. Shashoua didn't allow his two daughters to watch TV.

Later in his career, as director of advanced technology at RCA's aerospace division, Mr. Shashoua was involved in top-secret work for NASA, the U.S. military, the FBI, and the CIA. Years later, after the work was declassified, his family learned that he had created a tiny body microphone and other spyware, his daughter said. Mr. Shashoua held nine U.S. and foreign patents.

Whatever the request, her father's reply was, "No problem," Linda Shashoua said. " 'Can you fit that room of computers into a one-cubic-foot box?' 'No problem.' 'Can you do it by next month?' 'No problem.' "

Mr. Shashoua was born in Iran to Iraqi parents. His father died when Mr. Shashoua was 14, and two years later he joined family in England, where he earned a bachelor's degree from Faraday House Electrical Engineering College in London. After moving to the United States, he earned a master's degree from Newark College of Engineering. During the Korean War he served in the Army at Fort Bragg, N.C., repairing medical equipment.

After retiring from RCA in 1988, Mr. Shashoua dabbled in commercial real estate, his daughter said, and enjoyed tennis and bridge. A master bridge player, he competed in tournaments with his wife, Joyce Levy Shashoua, a retired child psychologist whom he met when they were neighbors in London. The couple married in 1962.

He was a very involved father, Linda Shashoua said. He played catch with his daughters, taught them car repair and maintenance, helped them with their math homework, and listened to their music, she said.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Shashoua is survived by another daughter, Deborah Balsley, and two sisters.

Services were private.