Shoichiro Toyoda, the son of Toyota's founder, has died at 97 due to heart failure. Shoichiro Toyoda helped direct Toyota’s transformation into a global automaker. Toyoda was the driving force behind the company’s expansion into international markets. Shoichiro was the father of Akio Toyoda, who recently announced he was stepping down as president and chief executive to become its chairman.Koji Sato is set to become chief executive in April. Shoichiro was the eldest son of Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded Toyota in 1937.
The company relied on the founding family’s legacy and historical charisma to tide it through times of crisis, although Toyota has had many chief executives who were not members of its founding family .Shoichiro Toyoda was inducted into the U.S. Automotive Hall of Fame in 2007, honored for his achievements in cementing “Toyota’s reputation as one of the most recognized and celebrated auto manufacturers in the world.”He was graduated from the prestigious Nagoya University in 1947 with a degree in engineering and joined Toyota in 1952.It’s said that he earned the respect of fellow employees by working right beside them in factories. That underscored Toyota’s vision of valuing the workplace, what’s on the ground, or “genba,” as critical for morale, efficient production, innovation and quality.Toyota’s beginnings were humble. Shoichiro Toyoda ’s grandfather, Sakichi Toyoda, invented the automatic loom in a backyard shed, mainly because he wanted to help his mother, who often was weaving in their home.