Toyota Motor Corp. (TMC) says that its former President Tatsuro Toyoda. Source: Toyotadied of pneumonia at the age of 88 on Dec. 30, 2017.

The son of the company’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, he took a major role in Toyota’s international expansion during the 1980s and 1990s and led the company from 1992 to 1995 as the automaker accelerated its global expansion.

A report from Reuters says he was the first president of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc, or NUMMI, plant in California in the mid-1980s. That joint venture with General Motors Co demonstrated that Toyota’s production system could be adapted to the culture of operations outside its home base of Japan.

Toyota now has 10 manufacturing operations in the United States. Toyoda stepped down as company president in 1995.

Toyoda is survived by his wife, Ms. Ayako Toyoda. TMC says it plans to hold a farewell for Mr. Toyoda at a later date.