Former Takeda Pharmaceutical President Kunio Takeda Dies at 84

Tokyo, June 17 (Jiji Press)--Kunio Takeda, former president of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., died of old age at a hospital in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on June 8. He was 84.

Born in 1940 to the founding family of the Japanese drugmaker, he joined the firm in 1962 and assumed the presidency in 1993.

He pushed through structural reform intended to focus on the pharmaceutical business and introduced a merit-based personnel system, laying the foundations for competing with foreign rivals.

Takeda Pharmaceutical's consolidated revenue reached 1 trillion yen in the year ended in March 2002.

After becoming chairman of the company in 2003, Takeda served as vice chair of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, the country's largest business lobby.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]