Masatoshi Ito, the Japanese tycoon who helped build 7-Eleven into a worldwide corporate empire, has passed away at the age of 98.

In a statement released by Ito-Yokada company on Masatoshi Ito's cause of death on March 11, Masatoshi Ito passed away on March 10 because of old age, The Japan Times reported

The legacy of Masatoshi Ito lives on in the 7-Eleven chain, even if the Ito-Yokado shops, which sold everything from groceries to daily clothing, have lost their popularity. Ito-Yokado, the firm he started, eventually evolved into 7-Eleven's parent corporation, Seven & I Holdings.

Around a quarter of the world's 83,000 7-Elevens are located in Japan. According to the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, Ito had a net worth of $5 billion (669.8 billion yen) and was the company's biggest shareholder.

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7-Eleven's Rise To Prominence

The 7-Eleven convenience store network may be traced back to 1927, when the Southland Ice Company was founded in Dallas, Texas via the merger of various icehouse businesses.

The shops changed their name to 7-Eleven in 1946 to reflect their new, later hours of operation (7 am to 11 pm), according to CNN.

Masatoshi Ito, a post-war businessman, is credited with expanding the company via a succession of acquisitions and new product launches in the 1970s and '90s, turning it into a worldwide powerhouse that now markets everything from yogurt to pre-made meals to pharmaceuticals.

Then, in 1974, Ito-Yokado made an agreement with 7-Eleven's owner, the American-based Southland Company, and launched the first 7-Eleven in Japan. In March of 1990, Masatoshi Ito's company attempted to purchase a majority share in Southland Corporation.

The 7-Eleven Billionaire quit his job as president of Ito-Yokado in 1992 because of allegations that three executives had broken the law by paying yakuza gunmen to keep order at a shareholders' meeting, per the BBC.

Until 2005, Ito-Yokado was known as Seven & I Holdings. The I represents Ito-Yokado and its former honorary chairman, Masatoshi Ito.

Masatoshi Ito noted in a 1988 interview that he attributed his success as 7-Eleven Billionaire to both hard work and luck.

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