Shintaro Tsuji, the 92-year-old founder of Hello Kitty owner Sanrio Co., is to step down as president, marking the first change of leadership in its 60-year history, a company official said Friday.

He will cede the post on July 1 to his 31-year-old grandson, senior managing director Tomokuni Tsuji, and become chairman. He will have the right to represent the Tokyo-based company, which conceived the world-famous feline character in 1974.

The change comes as Sanrio battles the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the temporary closure of its Hello Kitty-themed parks in Japan.

A former prefectural government official in Yamanashi, Shintaro Tsuji founded Yamanashi Silk Center Co., predecessor of Sanrio, in Tokyo in 1960 to sell silk products, a specialty of the central Japanese prefecture.

After learning that merchandise with cute illustrations sold well, he moved into character goods, eventually leading to the creation of Hello Kitty in 1974.

His son, Kunihiko Tsuji, died in 2013 at age 61 due to acute cardiac failure while on a business trip to Los Angeles in his role as executive vice president of the firm.

Incoming president Tomokuni Tsuji joined in 2014 and has been senior managing director since June 2017.

==Kyodo

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