Cho Yang-ho died in Los Angeles on Sunday, Korean Air said in a statement Monday. He was 70 years old. The company didn't reveal the cause of death.
Cho took over as chairman and CEO of Korean Air from his father in 1999. The following year, Cho became a founder of the SkyTeam airline alliance — a move that put Korean Air on the international map.
Cho was also head of Korean Air parent company Hanjin Group, one of South Korea's sprawling family-run conglomerates.
In more recent years, Cho made headlines for all the wrong reasons. He and his family have been accused of fostering a culture of abuse and violence at the company.
Investors are now hoping the company's governance issues are behind it — shares in Hanjin Transportation spiked 14% in Seoul following the news of Cho's death. Korean Air rose as much as 4% in morning trading.

Weeks before his death, Cho was booted from his position as chairman of the board at Korean Air. He was on trial over charges of embezzlement and breach of trust. He denied the charges against him.
The "nut rage" incident of 2014 — when Cho's daughter, Heather Cho, assaulted two Korean Air flight attendants for serving her macadamia nuts in a bag instead of a porcelain bowl — was perhaps the most infamous example of the corrosive environment at the company. Last year, Cho's youngest daughter Emily Cho faced a storm of public criticism for allegedly throwing a drink at a business meeting attendee. She was later cleared of all charges related to the incident.
Cho's widow, Lee Myung-hee, is currently facing criminal charges for physically and verbally abusing her staff. The alleged abuse includes claims that she assaulted an employee for forgetting to buy ginger and drenched another with water for driving too slowly. The criminal indictment against Lee was released by a South Korean lawmaker earlier this year.
Paula Newton and Jake Kwon contributed to this report.

In the beginning of the meeting, Minister S.Chinzorig extended his gratitude to the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia for its valuable contribution to the development of Mongolia and congratulated the Ambassador on his appointment. After briefly introducing the country’s economic state as well as labor and social protection policies and actions, the Minister expressed a readiness to cooperate with the U.S. in youth development, child and family protection, and development of disabled persons. In particular, he spoke of the possibilities of organizing meetings between youths of the two countries, empowering civil society organizations, holding experience-sharing meetings, studying the U.S. experience in development of disabled persons, and training professionals in rehabilitation of disabled children.

According to unofficial numbers, there are approximately 30 thousand Mongolians working and residing in the U.S. Therefore, Minister S.Chinzorig informed the Ambassador about the necessity of establishing a social protection agreement to ensure their social security. Another subject brought up was the issue of H2 visas. The Minister of Labor and Social protection said the information about the U.S. entities, which are willing to hire workers from Mongolia and working conditions are unclear, which makes it difficult to connect individuals with the entities, and that specific actions should be taken in this regard.

For his part, Ambassador Michael Klecheski thanked the Minister for providing information on economic and social condition of Mongolia and putting forward specific cooperation proposals and expressed his hope that there would be no barrier for accepting them. The Ambassador also voiced his readiness to cooperate in exchanging information about H2 visas and providing citizens with accurate information.