FedEx Corp’s founder and former CEO Frederick Smith, who started the global delivery conglomerate with more than a dozen planes in the 1970s, has died, the company’s CEO Raj Subramaniam said in memo to staff posted on its website on Saturday.

He was 80 years old.

Born in 1944, Smith was most recently serving as the firm’s executive chairman and focused on board governance, as well as issues of global importance, including sustainability, innovation and public policy, according to his profile on FedEx’s website.

Smith stepped aside as FedEx’s CEO in 2022 and was succeeded by Subramaniam, who was then the company’s operations chief.