Shoichiro Toyoda, former Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation and son of Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota Motors has passed away at the age of 97 due to heart failure.

News comes a few weeks after Akio Toyoda announced he was stepping down as the company's president and chief executive to become its chairman.

Shoichiro Toyoda was the eldest son of Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded Toyota Motors in 1937 after Toyota Industries Corporation was founded in 1926 by his father, Sakichi Toyoda, to manufacture and sell the automatic looms which he had invented and perfected.

Toyoda joined his father's business at Toyota Motors in 1952 and in ten years, he rose to the position of managing director and was promoted to senior managing director in 1967, executive vice president in 1972, and president of the company's marketing organization in 1981.

Toyota Motor Corporation was formed in 1982 when the sales and production organizations merged and Toyoda became the first president of this new entity. From 1992 to 1999, he served as chairman, and he was appointed honorary chairman in 1999.