Michael J. “Mike” Kittredge II, the founder of the Yankee Candle Company, passed away Wednesday. He was 67 years old.

Kittredge began making candles 50 years ago in the garage of his childhood home in South Hadley, making his first candle out of melted crayons as a gift for his mother.

The candle company grew to become one of the largest employers in Western Massachusetts, with about 1,400 employees in the region, including at the offices and flagship store in South Deerfield, the Whately factory and a facility in East Longmeadow.

Yankee Candle today produces more than 200,000 scented jar candles every week and has about 35,000 store locations across the globe.

Kittredge grew the business before selling 90 percent of the company in 1998 for an estimated $500 million. He took a hiatus from business and traveled the world, visiting warm destinations including the Caribbean and Mediterranean to the colder regions of Alaska and Antarctica.

A consummate entertainer, he enjoyed hosting parties and playing in his band.

He re-entered the candle business in 2010 to help his son launch the Kringle Candle Company and the Farm Table Restaurant in the small Western Massachusetts town of Bernardston.

Kittredge was a two-time cancer survivor. He suffered a stroke in 2012 which limited his movement and speech, though he made extensive progress in regaining speech in following years.

He died at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston on Wednesday after a brief illness. He was surrounded by family and friends in his final moments. He is survived by his son, Michael James of Leverett, and two daughters, Kylie Madison and Casey Jean of Amherst as well as cousins in Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Vermont, California and Hawaii.

No public calling hours or funeral services are planned at this time.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to any of the following organizations: the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, of which Kittredge served on the board of directors; Cooley-Dickinson Hospital’s Kittredge Surgical Center; Holyoke Community College’s Kittredge Center; or the Kittredge Building at The Bement School in Deerfield.