Shoichiro Toyoda, Son of Toyota Founder, Dies at 97

• Shoichiro Toyoda (pictured above in 2002 with then-Toyota CEO Fujio Cho) was the son of Toyota’s founder Kiichiro Toyoda.

• Shoichiro’s son Akio Toyoda recently announced he would step aside from his term as Toyota’s president.

• It is hard to ignore Shoichiro’s impact on the company’s history.

One of Toyota’s most prominent leaders, Shoichiro Toyoda, has died. The son of the company founder Kiichiro Toyoda and father of the recently retired president Akio Toyoda, it’s safe to say that Shoichiro Toyoda has left a stamp on the automaker’s legacy. He passed away on February 14, from heart failure, at age 97.

The late Toyoda was born in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, and attended Nagoya University, where he studied engineering. Shoichiro would later get his PhD in engineering from Tohoku University in 1955 with a thesis on fuel injection.

Shoichiro joined the family business in 1952 and stated working his way through the ranks. In 1961 he became a managing director for the Toyota brand. He saw another rise in 1967 when he became the senior managing director, before jumping into a vice president role in 1971.