Baldev Duggal, who immigrated from India as a teenage amateur photographer and became a patriarch of the film processing industry, as well as an impetus for reviving the Flatiron district in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, died on June 29 at his vacation home in Truro, Mass. He was 78.

His death was confirmed by his son Michael, the chief executive of Duggal Visual Solutions.

Mr. Duggal (pronounced doo-GAL) came to the United States in 1957 and capitalized on his $200 grubstake and student visa to found what became Duggal Visual Solutions.

Over five decades, from humble beginnings washing prints in the bathtub of his apartment on East 49th Street, he transformed the company into a technological innovator that attracted prominent photographers, retailers and advertising agencies as clients and pioneered giant outdoor wraparound photographic displays. He was chief executive emeritus at his death.

Mr. Duggal was an inventor as well as an entrepreneur. He devised an automated film processing system and a means to develop negatives by hanging them upright and dipping them into large tanks. He also invested in digital imaging and electronic retouching when the technology was still new.