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Toyota announced today that Shoichiro Toyoda has died of heart failure at the age of 97. A funeral service will be held for close family, but the automaker says it plans to hold a farewell gathering at a later date to honor the longtime manager. Shoichiro Toyoda is survived by his son Akio Toyoda, who stepped down as Toyota’s CEO last month but still serves as chairman of the board.
Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda’s son, Shoichiro Toyoda, was still serving as Toyota’s honorary chairman at the time of his death. Portal reports that Toyoda joined his father’s company in 1952 and is arguably responsible for the success of the Toyota Motor Corporation we know today. In addition to his commitment to build quality and reliability, he was also responsible for the development of Lexus and the original Prius.
After initially failing to successfully bring the Toyota Crown to the US, Toyoda later became one of the executives responsible for the automaker’s new “Total Quality Control” system. Toyota’s focus on quality not only earned it a reputation for impressive reliability, but also inspired other automakers to adopt similar practices. After his success in improving quality, Toyoda was appointed general manager in 1961, and 20 years later he became head of Toyota’s sales organization.
After the automaker merged its sales and production divisions into today’s Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyoda served as chairman from 1992 to 1999. At the time of his death, he had served on the board for 57 years, making it the automaker’s longest-serving board member.
Outside of his work at Toyota, Toyoda also headed Keidanren, Japan’s pro-business lobby group, where he campaigned for lower taxes and the deregulation of growing industries like cell phones.