Kazuo Kashio, chairman and CEO of Casio Computer Co., has died at the age of 89.
Mr Kashio is a legend of the Japanese watchmaking industry and a key architect in the development of the G-Shock which first came to market 35 years ago in 1983.
Mr Kashio became president of Casio in 1988, succeeded his older brother Tadao Kashio. He started to take a less active role in 2015, when he handed over control of Casio to his eldest son Kazuhiro and became chairman.
“By breaking free from preconceptions and conventional notions, we have conceived products that are truly needed and used our digital technologies to make them a reality,” Kazuo Kashio said in a chairman’s message posted on the company’s website.