Isao Nakauchi

Nakauchi had been undergoing medical treatment since suffering a stroke in late August.

Nakauchi, a native of Osaka, began selling medical products in Kobe with his father after returning to Japan from World War II battlefields in the Philippines.

Nakauchi, who won fame as a discount retailing pioneer, turned Daiei into the country's biggest retailer in terms of sales in 1972 from a single drug store he opened in 1957 in Osaka.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 24, 2005
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