Keshub Mahindra, who led the eponymous automobile group as its chairman for nearly five decades, died on Wednesday. He was 99.

“…a well-known philanthropist who redefined good corporate governance in India. He was an exemplary statesman and an irreplaceable figure in Indian industry, revered for his vision, his business acumen, his leadership by example, and above all, for his uncompromising professional integrity,” the Mahindra Group said in a statement.

“He was a man of principles and led from the front to preserve the legacy of our founders which has ensured that the organisation has remained rooted in ethics, values and good corporate governance,” said Anand Mahindra, Keshub Mahindra’s nephew who replaced him as chairman in 2012.

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Born on 9 October 1923 in Shimla, Keshub Mahindra joined the company co-founded by his father Jagdish Chandra Mahindra after graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947. In 1963, the younger Mahindra became chairman of the group, a post he held until 2012.

During his tenure, Mahindra went from being a mere assembler of Willys jeeps in India to a diversified multinational conglomerate valued at $19 billion. His vision for the group helped it expand beyond tractors and sports utility vehicles, and make a significant space for itself in software services, hospitality and real estate.

Mahindra was also the founder-chairman of Housing and Urban Development Corp. Ltd, vice-chairman of Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd, and served on several boards and councils in both the private and public domain, including at Steel Authority of India Ltd, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals and Indian Hotels. He also served on several government-appointed committees and was a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry from 2004 to 2010.

As much as Mahindra will be remembered for his corporate accomplishments, he will also be remembered for being one of one of the eight people convicted in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the world’s worst industrial disaster which killed nearly 15,000 people.

Mahindra had a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes, and was India’s oldest billionaire at the time of this death.