Japan property tycoon Mori dead at 77

In this April 21, 2003, file photo, Mori Building Co. President Minoru Mori, the developer of the 280 billion yen (US$2.3 billion) Roppongi Hills, gestures during the presentation to the media of the sprawling new development with luxury housing and designer shops in the heart of Tokyo. Property tycoon Mori, who was one of Japan's most influential developers and built China's tallest building, has died. Company officials said Monday, March 12, 2012, that Mori, chairman of Mori Building Co., died last Thursday, March 8, of heart failure. He was 77. AP PHOTO/SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI,

TOKYO—Japan’s real estate tycoon Minoru Mori, whose family name is found on major upscale buildings in central Tokyo, has died at the age of 77, his company said Monday.

Mori, chairman of Mori Building Co. since 2011, succumbed to heart failure last Thursday after being treated for an unspecified illness, the real estate developing and management firm announced in a statement.

Immediately after graduating from Tokyo University in 1959, he joined the company newly founded by his father Taikichiro to redevelop Tokyo’s central areas with office buildings.

The company completed the Ark Hills in 1986 located in the Akasaka district as the first of its projects to build high-rise buildings complete with housing and commercial facilities.

In 1993, Taikichiro died at the age of 88 after being ranked No. 1 on the US Forbes magazine’s list of wealthiest people for two years.

Minoru became the company’s chief executive officer and president in the same year. The company opened another mega-development, the Roppongi Hills, in 2003.

His company built the 490-meter Shanghai World Financial Center in the Chinese magacity in 2008, the year he was also named Asia Businessman of the Year 2007 by US Fortune magazine.

In 2009, he became an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to Anglo-Japanese cooperation in art.