Morio Ikeda, formerly president and chief executive officer of Shiseido, has died on Monday, May 20th, at 76 years old. The cause of death was kidney cancer.

Ikeda was president of Shiseido from 2001 to 2005, and helped innovate the company’s business structure, according to Women’s Wear Daily (WWD). In 2002, he gave a keynote speech at WWD’s Beauty CEO Summit in Evian, France.

Ikeda began his career at Shiseido in 1961. He also held several public offices, including chairman of the board of trustees and chancellor of Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin, a private girls’ academy in Tokyo. Before joining Shiseido, he graduated from the Tokyo Union Theological Seminary.